The World Ends with You Too
by 0er0
Summary: Years have passed and choices were made. The Noise have reached critical mass beyond repair. Once again Shibuya becomes a battleground. Shibuya must be tested by unforgiving angels. It is up to Neku and his friends to save Shibuya from the ultimate battle against the Noise: The Clash. Includes some OC reapers, players and a demon. -Final chapter in progress Last update 12/30/13
1. Week One, Day One: Find Me

(Skip down to the underlined title if you don't want a plot summary. The plot summary is designed for new people who have no idea what this story is. The Term Bank is for reference and would be unnecessary for veteran Twewy players. Although feel free to tell me if I'm wrong about something. I'm a fanfic author, I'm not infallible.)

Author's Note:

I'm aware of the drastic quality difference between the unedited chapters and the beta read chapters. This is partly due to other eyes and this is partly due to the fact when I started the story I was VERY new to writing. While I'm still new in a lot of ways, I wouldn't call myself a stranger to it now. I'm going to rectify the quality difference in time. Thank you for your patience.

Attention: I would like to issue anyone interested in voiceacting/ drawing, editing or game design to give me a holler. I would like to put together a very simple project (one of amateur level). Please contact me via inbox or email me with the email provided at the bottom. I'm not exactly a genius writer, here... but the plot is the only thing that keeps the story going.

**Plot Summary**:

The World Ends with You is a well crafted game created by Square Enix and can be played on the Nintendo DS. Although my author's notes from one of my editors suggests the gamefaqs script; I was inclined to help others who have no knowledge of the World Ends with You.

In the city of Shibuya a young boy, Neku, found himself with no memory of how he ended up in the center of the street when every screen in the center of the city flashed the words, "You have seven days." It is later revealed that he is part of the "Reaper's Game". A game played by those who had died in Shibuya. If one were to win the game, another chance at life is granted. The rules are complicated, but the underlying principle is simple: Survive.

To win the game players must must defeat both noise and reapers who attack them. Noise are creatures that can be called in the Underground, the place where the game takes place. Noise are created by negative emotions from the living world. The noise appear as tattooed animals and they devour unwitting players. Reapers are allowed to send noise to destroy players, but cannot attack players directly. Reapers are usually much more powerful than players. One of the few conditions a reaper can attack a player directly is self defense, in most other situations Reapers use Noise. Players have special powers depending on their personality. They must use these powers (psyches) to defeat the noise.

Neku proved to be extremely powerful with psyches and Shiki, his partner, was quick to tell him so. Neku slowly had to learn the truth about the Reapers Game and day by day fight for survival. Shiki revealed to him that upon entering the Reaper's Game, that something is taken upon the game beginning. The commanding reaper collects something precious to you in life, your Price. Neku's price was his memory and Shiki's price was her appearance. The game is run by the Reapers, but every week there is one Reaper of significance: The Game Master. Usually a Game Master is a Reaper officer and they are always given command of what tasks Players must fulfill to win. To win the game Neku and Shiki had to complete the tasks the Game Master put in place. Ultimately they defeated the Game Master of the week. Neku regained his memory for if you win you claim your price back. Despite winning the game, Neku was forced to play the game again, this time. Shiki was his price.

With the help of Joshua Neku battled against Sho Minamimoto. A powerful game master who used the power of Taboo noise, noise who were beyond even reaper's control. The Taboo noise devoured players and Reapers alike. Ultimately serving Sho's purpose. Neku and Joshua faced relatively few missions, but many dangers. They managed to make it to the end of the week and battled against this powerful Reaper. Joshua saved Neku from a devastating attack, much to Neku's surprise, to let Neku live. It was revealed that Joshua was not a player, but a living human. As such Neku (being his partner) was disqualified from the game and forced to play another. Obvious foul play was afoot. Neku was cheated twice out of his chance at life. This time the Conductor, the leader of the reapers, took all the players in Shibuya as his price. Effectively meaning he would have to face the Reapers and Noise alone. His chances of victory changed from small to impossible.

Neku had long since found out that fighting without a partner is impossible. Beat, a former friend of Neku, joined Neku. Beat himself had become a reaper, but it was thanks to Beat's help that Neku was able to face the Conductor in a final showdown. The Conductor needed to erase Neku. He had planned to take over Shibuya and Neku was a thorn in his side. Beat and Neku fought against the Conductor only to learn that he was trying to save Shibuya from being destroyed. The Composer, the most powerful being in Shibuya and the ultimate authority in the Reaper's Game, wanted to destroy the city altogether. The Conductor and the Composer were playing a game against each other. A game of trying to erase Neku. If the Conductor failed to erase Neku, the Composer vowed destroy Shibuya. Joshua was the Composer all along. Neku felt betrayed by Joshua. Joshua was the one who killed him and forced him to enter the game. Neku refused to play further games against Joshua and rejected the temptation of becoming Composer himself. Seemingly Joshua killed Neku, but when Neku woke up he was very much alive. Joshua had decided to spare the city. He argued that Neku, the one he considered to represent the very worst parts of Shibuya, had changed. As such he said the city of Shibuya would change in time. Neku awoke alive and was relieved to meet all his new friends in the living world. Joshua left with Hanekoma, the Producer, saying, "There will be repercussions upstairs."

**Term bank**:

**Players-** Players are humans who have died in Shibuya. Every player has the ability to use psyches in accordance with both their soul and imagination. In order for a player to use psyches, they must make a pact with another player. If the person you made your pact with is erased, then you have minutes to find another partner. Otherwise you too are erased. Players strive to survive for seven days so they can get a chance at life again. They dwell in the Underground and cannot be seen by those living in the real world (aka Real Ground).

**Underground-** Is the realm in which the players play. It is the realm of the spirit. It is a dangerous realm where noise, players and reapers are granted special powers. These supernatural abilities are granted through Psyches, but it has no effect on the RG. Players can be visible in certain marked locations and otherwise cannot be seen by the living. Reapers can be seen in both the real world and the underground however they have to shift between them. In the RG the reapers have no superhuman abilities nor do players. Players can shop in most stores in Shibuya by means of a Reaper seal above the building. If any shop has the reaper seal players may temporarily interact with the living. Usually this is for the purpose of shopping or missions.

**Mission-** Missions are given out by Reapers. Ordinarily they present easily understood objectives but are not limited to be so. A mission is often given a time limit. If no player can complete the mission before the time is up, then all players are erased. If all players are erased the game is over. The conditions that are chosen depend on the Game Master. Every week changes dramatically with every new game master. There are rules forbidding reapers to make the missions impossible. Game Masters and conditions are regulated by the Conductor. If the Conductor fails to do his job he must answer to the Composer. Ultimately the Conductor and Composer take observing roles for missions. The Game Master sends all players one mission a day. The mission message is received by phone and cannot be deleted from your phone. There may be one mission every day only, but Reapers have tricked players into believing they can give more. Any additional messages you receive from any source other than the reaper are not linked with the mission. When the mission is over players often wake up the next day when the new mission starts.

**Noise- **Negative emotion given off in the real world which takes the forms of tattooed monsters. The Noise hunt players and can be controlled by reapers. Noise by their nature do not attack players unless a reaper summons them to attack. A player can fight a noise freely anywhere in the city by scanning for one. Noise are visible in the Underground but have very real effects in the real world (or Real Ground / RG). The noise can effect the emotions of living people and distort thoughts by real people. Players can choose to erase them to help clear a person's head and sometimes it's required in missions to progress. Noise gradually get more power as the week goes on. Although this may be linked to the progressive rise of Noise.

**Reapers- **Reapers can be of two types, support or active. A support reaper does not directly combat players and rarely summons noise unless the game master of the week ordered them to do so. The support reapers most important job is to put up barriers to either guide or slow down players. Barriers simply prevent players to be unable to pass unless an objective is met, this objective can be simple, difficult or even impossible. The active reapers are black winged humans. Each who was once either a player or human that chose to join the reapers. The active reapers are the ones seen most often by players as they actively seek out any players they can find and send noise to attack them. Reapers are not allowed to attack players and are only allowed to use noise. By nature, reapers are a great deal more powerful than players and could easily erase them if a player actually wished to fight one. Some reapers egg players on so they can have a legitimate reason to use their full power (self defense). The stronger the reaper, the stronger the noise they can call. The more players the reaper erases the more points they earn and the longer they live. It is a possibility that some reapers have been alive for longer than a lifetime. Players best avoid reapers although if a player is stronger than a reaper... There is no rule stating a player can't attack a reaper. Attack one at your own risk.

**Game Master- **A reaper chosen by the Conductor. It is difficult to have such a position and it usually takes years to be able to be game master. You have to be of reaper officer status, Sho Minamimoto was the youngest ever to become an officer. The game master makes missions and gives instructions to other reapers. They can choose what location noise will attack they can choose where to wait in ambush, the game master runs the week. The game master often is the most powerful reaper players will encounter and they WILL encounter. He cannot attack players directly until day seven (the final day). However when day seven comes along the Game Master is allowed to personally attack all remaining players. The players must defeat the game master for the week to end. If the game master is defeated the players can regain their lives.

**Conductor- **The highest ranking Reaper officer. All reapers report and answer to him. The Conductor personally congratulates players who defeat the game master. He is allowed to collect and give any players entry fees. The Conductor reports to all reapers the will of the Composer and in terms of power. The Conductor is often in a power tier all their own. Neku managed to kill the last Conductor six years ago, Kitaniji. The new Conductor has been chosen.

**Composer- **The Composer runs the game and any decision he makes is promptly carried out. The Composer is the only being capable of bringing a player back to life. Without a Composer there is no law and there is no game. The Composer's full power is unclear, but he is argued a god. (In this story, the Composer draws power from the city they rule. This gives them inhuman amounts of Soul and Imagination, but they do have limits.) The Composer can be killed and if someone manages to kill the Composer then his throne is forfeit to the one who killed him. Although it is unclear exactly what rules the Composer has to follow, there are even rules he has to follow in Shibuya. Perhaps rules he makes for himself?

**Producer-** The Producer is of no relation toRreapers although the Producer has spoken to players. The Producer is from the Angel Plane. Which may as the name suggests be what we perceive to be an angel in human form. Hanekoma has been the Producer of Shibuya for some time and is openly friends with Joshua. Hanekoma's job as Producer is to use art and words to gather the greatest minds into Shibuya. He produces the game and gathers different people from different cultures. The Producer has full knowledge of the game rules and mechanics of noise. With this knowledge he had used it to teach Sho Minamimoto the ability to make a noise that was beyond reaper control. Despite him being a friend of Joshua he secretly wished Shibuya to be saved and to this day works to keep the city safe. Even if there might be, "Repercutions upstairs."

The World Ends with You Too

_That's pretty damn funny._

_You thought you could push people around._

_But you're the one who ended up hurting._

_Nothing's funnier than that._

_I don't get people. Never have. Maybe I never will._

_I've tried to understand. I'm still trying._

_But you can all be so evil, and so stupid._

_And a lot of other things, bad and good._

_Why can't everything just be easier?_

_Why can't people be simple?_

Joshua stared at the mass tattoo in the sky. Call them glyphs or runes if you like, but the black symbols, bordered and marked with lines of color, were more like tribal tattoos than anything else. The collection of marks were like storm clouds, with all different sizes of tattoo stamped across the sky at different heights, over and under one another, reducing the sky to jagged slivers of blue. You could catch flickers of them against a seemingly clean sky from the ground, but to see them all at once, you needed to be somewhere with an unusual and powerful flow of soul. The thirteen-story tower known as Pork City fit the bill perfectly.

Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu and Sanae Hanekoma walked side by side to the railing of Pork City's roof, studying the growing storm of noise. It had been growing since before Joshua had been born, let alone since before he had…persuaded the previous Composer that abdicating his throne would be the best thing for him. He glanced down at his white-gloved hands. "Well, _that's_ not good." He said lightly.

"I was hoping that with all the strong hearts and minds, Shibuya could head this mess off before it got going. I suppose wishing for a miracle was a bit much." Hanekoma sighed and passed a polystyrene cup to the Composer. "Your favorite. Or it _would_ be if you showed up more often."

"Well, it _is_ going now. It seems our mass is starting descent." A sarcastic smirk hit Joshua's face. "Maybe I _should_ have destroyed this town. At least it would have gone with a little dignity." He smelled the steam coming off his coffee cup and exhaled a sigh.

Hanekoma might as well have scowled at Joshua. But Hanekoma didn't know how to scowl, he just had a light smirk. "Nothing's worth the death of a city, chief. Especially not the noise. Shibuya is a living, breathing organism. Dying as it is, what good would we do if you killed it before finding a cure?"

"Well, for one, _you'd_ still be a full Producer, and _I_ wouldn't have what might as well be a death sentence." Joshua chuckled lightly as he played the devil's advocate. It was in his nature to do so. Hanekoma lightly scratched the back of his head as he studied the Composer with black eyes just visible above his black shades and below his black hair. Joshua, with his vibe not down-tuned, was an adult, and slightly taller than Hanekoma. The Composer turned to the angel next to him, and their eyes locked, black with sunglasses against stony gray-blue that showed bitterness, sarcastic amusement and calculation in a dangerous mix.

Hanekoma spoke again. "You're not dead _yet_. Live for the moment. There's a _reason_ I tried to stop you, chief. I love this city. I loved it enough to defy the angels and you. Repercussions aside, I have nothing to regret."

"I envy that." Joshua said back. He turned back to the noise mass and took a long, slow, loud sip of his coffee. "Any chance the noise won't turn this place into one of the Conductor's scrap heaps?" he asked purposefully.

The angelic would-be Producer chuckled and looked back up. "Making some progress, there's still a number of things I'm itching to try. Any luck with picking out someone who can fill in for you?" Joshua glanced at his gloved hands again at that remark. "None. Going to the angels for help is a risky thing, _and_ my last resort. I'm not going to rush into it."

"Wise words. Just don't choke on 'em when the noise come. You need to act. All of us do." Hanekoma mused. Joshua drained his coffee and crushed the cup in frustration. He dropped it off the top of Pork City and hid his annoyance with a feigned smile. "If only we had a little more time…"

XXXXX

A boy got up in the center of the crowded city. Shibuya was as lively as ever. When wasn't it? As he rose from the ground he examined the cracks in the floor. The more he came to his senses the more he wished he was deaf. He could hear cars, advertisements, people and thoughts. The boy had short pure white hair and gold eyes which reflected off a nice looking phone. It took a moment of examination before the phone gave a quick little buzz. No text chirp on his phone, just a vibrate. His phone had no phone numbers, it had no contacts or any sign of social life. There was only a single text. His face seemed to be mesmerized by the words written on the screen, but at the same time felt disdain. The wind blew and his black jacket, with two white stripes down the arm, seemed to dance with the wind.

"Breezy."

He had one of those raspy voices. By the sound of his voice he could use steroids. A bunch of odd feelings flooded him. A thrill of excitement like he had been waiting for this day. A half assed smile and a neck pop later there was pain. His hand felt like it was shocked with a tazer. After the shock there was a timer. It was counting down slowly. Little by little it was a countdown to the end. But of course it was only the end if you didn't make it to the end. He didn't know where he was and he didn't care. He just took off running. He ran past people. Avoiding them at first and then noticing that he phased through them like they weren't there. This wasn't real, this was like a dream. Only it felt too real to be a dream. That's when he remembered something about dreams. Dreams didn't have real danger. This wasn't a dream.

"_Reach 104 or face the jaws of erasure. You have eighteen minutes."—_**The Reapers**

**Week One, Day One: Find Me**

XXX

_Neku Sakuraba... Yoshiya Kiryu... Why do I know those names?_

_Why does Shibuya cry out in despair?_

_And why am I here?_

_So many questions and so much time to answer... But when have answers done any good?_

The boy began to run from Shibuya Square, as of this moment he was a Player. It was the heart of the city and flowing through it, the human lives were the blood being directed every which way. The boy turned and you could get a gander of one those white under-shirts. Shibuya was odd today, everyone was ignoring him. Not too unusual, but other human beings walking through you seemed odd. One viscous smirk later, "It's seems they can't see me, kind of convenient."

He remembered, he had something important he had to do. He felt his face and tried to remember. It wasn't a pained expression, it was two eyes shut lightly and deep breathing. He ignored the Darklit Entertainment advertisement. He felt like he knew a ton of information, but it was closed to him. It wasn't that he couldn't reach the information, it's like he just couldn't bring himself to try to remember. Something about him didn't want to remember whatever he knew. Not because there was some painful backstory. He knew he wasn't one of those trama cases who conveniently forgot stressful moments of his life. It just felt like he genuinely didn't need to know anything. He was content and he would stay as such

He put on some shades and gave up. His sun glasses didn't seem to stop the light at all. All they did was barely tin the world in a slightly darker tint. From this darker tint he started to see symbols reflecting off his glasses; they were all around him take the form of animals with markings replacing various body parts. Frogs, that's what you might call them if you cared to call them that now. Frogs weren't dangerous, these were. These were Noise. Noise were monsters, nothing more. They came from the negative emotions of living humans. Now in the realm of the dead, they were dangerous to Players. The boy barely reacted, "Noise…" Then one of the memories triggered. He saw Neku Sakuraba, as a boy. This phantom vision of Neku was fighting against Noise. Unable to do anything but run. "That's right... I should run." Weiss didn't fight the frogs, he just ran. His little vision of Neku faded as he moved forward. Apparently he could remember things when they mattered.

That boy, Neku, was in this place six years ago. Shibuya changed, well not really, but the brands and stores were different. What happened to Neku? He already knew what happened to Neku. He didn't know everything that happened to Neku, but he remembered seeing him run through these streets. That's right. He was watching Neku run past here long ago. Then the other thought occurred, "Joshua was here too. Watching." The moment he recalled he could see a phantom Composer. It was just a memory, but a fluid one. Neku ran to the Hachiko statue back then. Joshua watched him make a pact with Shiki. Apparently he saw her too. He had difficulty placing exactly where he saw them. He definitely saw that day, he was there. He took a long look at the memory Joshua, "Joshua... you were playing a game... Neku was your chosen one. He was going to decide Shibuya's fate? This game must be your making..."

It was a very good thing that no one could hear him. He would have sounded crazy. He certainly sounded crazy to himself. Neku and Joshua were two very important people to Shibuya. What he said about Joshua wasn't all memory. It was an unhealthy mix of speculation and feelings. He couldn't remember more. He couldn't make himself remember and damn those frogs were slow. How long had he been standing there? They didn't even bother attacking him. Apparently their attention was on something else.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Well after hearing the voice there wasn't much in the way of speculation if it was a girl or not. Definitely a girl's scream. Well a chivalrous male would go to help her, but no. He watched her run around as the frog harmlessly stuck to her face. "Get it off! Get it off! Please stop ignoring me!" Oh cute, she was pleading with people to get a frog off of her face.

Well cute as it was, it had to stop. The boy walked up and tried to get the frog off of her face. It was really stuck on there. He tried tugging, but he had to try harder. It took a good three yanks before he peeled the frog off the poor girl's face. "Make a pact with me." He said getting to the point.

The girl was dressed in a business skirt and jacket. The kind of thing you wore for business or trying to join a business. In her hand was a simple notebook and in her other a stylish pen. Luckily she didn't have the usual high heels. It was hard to run in those things although he never personally tested it. He just figured. She of course had the usual questions, "And who exactly are you?" Guess it was a cautious question.

"We need to make a pact to fight Noise. Which are those monsters there. Shouldn't you know the rules to the game?"

"What game?"

"Troublesome, I guess you don't."

"The frogs are coming back!"

"Those are the noise." The boy said calmly with a smile. It would have been comforting if there weren't monsters trying to kill her.

"Thank you captain obvious."

"Accept my pact and I'll help you. I'm a player, like you. If we work together we can beat the noise."

The girl was a little older than him. There was a moment pause before she said, "I accept."

Blue light and power. When a pact is made you feel the other persons soul and imagination. It's intimate and a little scary. A pact could force empathy even on the worst social cases. Other than feeling someone else, you also shared power. Part of it was evening out your soul wavelengths to match the other person. "Your name?" The girl asked.

"Oh umm..." He had to think, what was his name? Surely if he could remember the rules for the Reapers Game and other names he could remember his own. Nothing and more nothing. "Call me Weiss." He was attempting to make up a random name. But it was catchy, he could get used to it. Weiss went well with the whole white hair thing.

The girl was older than him sure, maybe by a year or two. It was hard to gauge because Weiss didn't exactly know his exact age. Probably sixteen? Seventeen? Something like that. She seemed to be suffering from memory problems herself or at least didn't have a faint clue about the reapers game. "Nanami Haruka. How do we deal with them?"

Showing was better than telling her. At the Hachiko statue was where Neku made a pact with Shiki and it's also where he learned about psyches. It seemed the opposite was true for Weiss. Not only did he know how to use psyches he KNEW how to use psyches. By the way he used them he was no amateur. When the battle with the noise started it was abundantly clear that Weiss knew how to use his crappy psyches. Oh and they were crappy pins. He had one useless gold pin in his pocket, one slightly less useless player pin in his pocket and two incredibly useful (but still low quality) pins. He could use shockwave and so he did. Shockwave was a slicing motion of energy. The visual was a deceptive slicing motion that hit a surprisingly wide area. The user could wave an arm or a leg and energy would surround that limb to send damaging force at the enemy. In this case the enemy was a frog noise who didn't respond well to the receiving end of a barrage of shockwaves. The psych went well with combos. You didn't even have to punch, just wave across them and let the psych handle the rest.

The other pin sent energy bolts from the palm. Bolts the size of your fist. And you could send a volley of these bullets. The better the pin you had, the better the psych. That's how Players fought. It was partly a collectors game. Noise dropped pins and you could exchange them for money if you didn't need the pin. That stuff wasn't really worth discussing. Right now there were Noise to finish off. Weiss was pretty good, but really the frogs were just weak. Beginners without talent could beat them. Mostly Noise like this served the purpose of figuring out how your powers worked. What was really dangerous were the people who commanded them: Reapers. You could bet your left ass cheek that there were reapers watching. Each one observing and reporting potential threats. Weiss was going to be on their list, sure enough. Hell he could see a support Reaper taking mental notes. A lot of support reapers reported to the higher ups about any players with particular talent.

Nanami found herself mostly dodging. She didn't know what the hell Weiss was doing, but he was making short work of the frogs. Ever time she dodged she waited for an opening. When one presented itself she instinctively swatted it with her notebook. But the notebook wasn't harmless in the Underground. In the real world a notebook served no practical battle application. But that notebook meant something to her. It mattered somehow. Just like a skater might find his skateboard his ultimate weapon in the Underground, she found her notebook to be hers. When she hit that thing with the notebook it didn't even make an expression. It just exploded into static. You couldn't really blame her for not figuring out her power sooner. She had a lot on her mind. Monsters chasing her and people phasing through her like she was a ghost. That was it wasn't it? She was like a ghost. Whatever was going on didn't exactly consult physics. She could feel power in her notebook and she could feel her partner was nearby. It was a sixth sense. A mix between a gut feeling and a little fairy on your shoulder. It wasn't easy to describe. From this sense she could feel something... odd about Weiss. She could feel him, but he wasn't all there. Like part of him was missing.

"Glad to see your still here." Weiss appeared from out of nowhere.

Nanami jumped and turned, "Did you just teleport?"

Weiss had a smile that she could already tell was going to annoy her. It was an airhead smile. It was carefree and there was something false about it. She couldn't tell what. He made an effort to explain, "Oh no. When we battle Noise we have to fight in our own zone. We can still draw off of each other's power and we're fighting the same enemy, but we can't directly interact during Noise battles."

Nanami understood, but didn't know why it was true. She paraphrased, "So when we're fight those... frogs. We're both fighting the same frogs, just we can't see one another."

Weiss smiled, "Glad you figured that out." He didn't sound too sincere.

Nanami looked at the timer on her hand, she'd had that timer a while now. But what did it mean, "And this? This is?"

Weiss casually mentioned it as if it were no urgency, "Oh that's our timer. If it runs out we're erased. We need to reach ten-four, before the time is up." He held his hand up to demonstrate that time was ticking.

Her eyes widened when she saw the time. They needed to start running. Why the hell did he know this and not mention that sooner? "Umm... shouldn't we be running?"

Weiss put some genuine thought into it. "Well I don't see any reason why we can't." He didn't sound like he cared if he lived or died. The truth was he didn't care. He didn't care at all. "We shouldn't want to be erased after all."

Nanami was suspicious, "No... no we shouldn't." Who was this guy? She didn't know much about him. But it really wasn't the time to concern herself over this. That's because time was running out. Hurry made people ignore a lot of things and for now she'd ignore this.

"Well ten four is this way. Plenty of time and we might be the first ones there. Let's go." He took the lead, but they didn't have to run for long. A minute couldn't have gone by before an invisible wall blocked their path to 104. He stopped just before he hit it and Nanami slowed down just barely fast enough to get shocked by it. It stung to the touch.

"What's this?" She asked.

"This would be a wall. They put up barriers like this if a reaper bars our path. There should be someone standing nearby." There was. A man in a red hoodie. Who stood in silent observation.

"Him?"

"I think so. Oh... it looks like he's getting ready to leave."

"Why?"

They approached a little closer and he muttered something as if he'd said it hundreds of times, "Pact complete. You may pass." It was as if he were directing traffic. The barrier was gone and the support reaper had done his job. He was one of the support reapers. Barriers were raised and lowered based on the conditions met. This barrier's condition served one simple purpose. To confirm the number of pacts made versus players erased. Very valuable data for the reapers. In fact, it was so valuable to know the number of players who survived the first day, that the mission was always the same. The first day was just the simple task of making a pact and surviving a very easy noise battle. They survived. So they got to pass. Their mission was as good as cleared. Or at least that was the norm.

Relief.

The timer vanished. The mission was met. They weren't going to die. Now was the time for questions. Nanami remembered nothing and from what she could gather, this boy remembered the rules at least. So she'd start with those. Maybe after she knew a rule or two she might ask more about his past. Although talking about his past usually meant her talking about her past. She remembered her past and she didn't feel like that he earned that conversation. "How many more days do we do this? And what's the limit on missions?"

Weiss answered promptly, "Seven days. It's the number of perfection or completeness. The number of missions we receive per day is 1 and only one. It'll be given to us via text. Never deviate from the the text asks you to do. Reapers will try to trick you and they often lie to new players to get them erased."

Nanami had a fair question. A bit of a philosophical one, "Why are Reapers trying to kill us?"

Weiss frowned, "Mostly because it's the way of the world. It's a competition. They survive by erasing players. If they don't erase players they too will eventually be erased. But your question asked more than that. What you really want to know is why someone would do something like to another human? Reapers were human once and they gave up some shreds of humanity for power. They all have different reasons for joining. Support reapers survive by doing as the Game Master instructs. They aren't our enemies. Our real enemies are the winged reapers. They are the ones who send noise after us. They're the ones who kill because they enjoy it."

"They enjoy it?" People ENJOYED this?! What kind of sicko enjoyed this?!

Her question was answered. A reaper appeared. Black winged and rugged. He had human eyes, but they were feral. His teeth almost seemed to be fangs. He wore a fur jacket and bone accessories. "Dog meat. You're dog meat." He was scary. He was nuts and he probably wanted nothing more than to kill personally.

"Dog meat? Oh us? Well we could be. But you'd have to kill us. Which seems unlikely since we all want to live to get our entry fee back." Such an astute observation. The entry fee comment was worth noting. Nanami heard that. She was already suspicious that something was wrong with her. That there was something wrong. Something was taken from her. Something was missing. But what did they take from her? What did they take from Weiss? That might explain why he was so odd. An entry fee?

The reaper pointed with leather biker gloves. Not at them, but behind them. Nanami looked, but Weiss didn't. There were other players approaching. Just like them. The reaper gritted his teeth as he spoke, "Prey travels in packs to the stream. Unaware they predators lie in wait. You have your water, you have another day to live. But now the wolves will feast on the weakest prey first. Natural selection as it should be. Which of you will be devoured?"

Nanami couldn't speak. This man was completely insane. He had a feral look that wished her harm. When he was talking about the weak, he was talking about her. He could smell fear. But Weiss broke his gaze towards Nanami, "That's an officer class Reaper. He's probably this week's Game Master. Essentially he's in charge of the Reapers and our missions. Game Masters traditionally don't reveal themselves to players on the first day. He wants to make an impression. To inspire fear, perhaps?"

Weiss finally got the Reaper's attention. "Observant little pup with an insolent bark. You are sly prey and I'll hunt you down all the same. Now is not the time for words, now is the time to show me your teeth. Show your bite to the noise, boy!"

Anyone could sense the noise coming. But they didn't strike, not yet. "My name is Weiss and this is Nanami, my partner. I was wondering if you heard anything about our prices. You being Game Master and all. I mean, if you aren't willing to tell us I completely understand."

"I am Okami, I am the pack leader for this hunting season. The alpha male of the pack. I don't ask questions about my prey, to me you are nothing. You are food. What use does a wolf have for further conversation with dying prey?" His name was Okami. He was the Game Master and he was about to sick Noise on the players.

The faint glimmer of hope that their price could be revealed washed away. Nanami wanted to know about their prices more than Weiss, but what kind of man just asks a Reaper? It didn't matter. Noise were coming and she stood face to face against a colorful bear noise.

Her price as far as she knew wasn't her memory. She remembered her life. Not all of it sure, but that was natural. The only thing that made her wonder was that she didn't remember the game rules. That was a big factor. Maybe Weiss just knew them and she didn't? Well he made it sound like other players should have known the rules, how come she didn't know them?

Again thoughts were interrupted. There was never enough time to sit around and reason. That's one of the ways this game was dangerous. You were always drenched in confusion and danger. The danger was before her: Noise. It took the shape of a long clawed bear. It was riddled with tattoos. The girl couldn't see Weiss, he vanished. She had to fight the bear noise that stood before her alone, no easy task. The monster didn't have arms but blue markings. These markings could extend as needed to stab and swipe. The girl might rather fight a real bear.

"Alright... I'm gonna try." The girl at the very least had her Psych; she opened up her notebook and tried scratching pen marks onto the paper. With each pen slash a black line went flying out in front of her. The bigger the line she drew the longer the energy line would be. Big or small, it was a projectile attack that flew at the enemy in an instant. Each pen mark became a damaging energy slash that cut against the bear noise. The girl smiled at her psych, drawing was her power. She could win. The bear was flinching and taking damage, but it got closer and closer. She was getting cornered. The pen streaks remained on her paper. Then a though occurred. She could make a picture out of the lines she drew. She tried putting the lines together to make a crude drawn house. The page let out a glow and blew the bear back after she completed a simple picture. It was starting to make sense. Every pen mark was a ranged attack. If she completed a picture she could use special attacks. Lines became pictures. When she made a picture she could feel Weiss' soul energy building up inside her.

As she unlocked her power she could access more of her partner's. Her partner had a lot of energy. Not enough to make her useless, but enough to make her realize that she had a lot to learn. She could feel him fighting in his zone. She could feel his psyches. He was learning like she was. Although was learning his psyches inhumanly fast. She tried to tell herself that he had done this before, but her sense told her better. Her partner was completely new, like she was. He was a little stronger and he was a much faster learner. What was scary was that he felt nothing as he fought. He didn't feel fear or excitement. He just felt nothing. Emotions played a huge role in how your psyches worked. His emotions effected her and she could feel it. Although she couldn't name it. It only confirmed that something was wrong with him. His soul felt like it was changing itself at a whim. Like it was changing itself to better suit her.

The fight continued as she finished drawing a simple tree and the page let out a faint glow and the bear took a powerful blast from the notebook. This was cool. I mean besides being life threatening. The girl exclaimed right as the bear drew it's arm back to cut her into tiny pieces. Nanami screamed and held up her notepad as the slash was stopped by the book. It slashed again with its second arm and Nanami let out a yelp as she didn't know what to do now. Her little notebook shouldn't have been able to handle a slash from a super bear. But it did. When she blocked with her notebook, the attack didn't reach her. Blocking took skill, but it seemed to completely suppress the attack. But she kept blocking and realized how hard it was to keep doing it. It was tiring her out physically and sapping her soul's energy. She needed to do something, but what? It had her cornered and she was helpless if this continued. The game was so new to her and she didn't really know how to fight beyond basic instinct. Before the bear noise struck once more it paused and began to blur in static. A white glow fluttered around it as it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Weiss appeared and in a good mood, "Sorry I couldn't help. I was fighting one in my zone. But I see he didn't scratch your pretty face."

Somehow she didn't want to be called pretty from him. It just seemed... creepy.

Okami snarled, "Pitiful Players! So many devoured… By so feeble a predator. You'll not survive." He seemed disappointed he didn't have more players to work with.

Nanami took a look around her. People were being erased, being mauled, they were dying. They were being robbed of their existence and future.

Okami was evil. He was enjoying this, "There's no need to summon more noise... I will show them how harsh this dog eat dog world is in time. I have eaten my fill, I'd best save prey to hunt another day. But... How can I do such a thing. I feel the need to destroy... TO DEVOUR!" He raised his hand to summon more Noise. He wasn't being fair. These were new players. Summoning more Noise was just overkill.

Another Reaper appeared and caught his arm as it rose. This new Reaper was different than Okami. He had control and he had apathy. He gave Okami a playful smirk. By the way he spoke to Okami, he must have been an officer himself. "Down boy. That's all for today. Rules are rules and the boss is the boss. Settle down a little." He talked with a lolipop in his mouth. His orange frilly hair and skull vest made him stick out like a sore thumb.

Okami didn't appreciate that, "Bite your tongue! I know my place among the pack, remember yours! I am the Alpha for this week."

The Reaper before him was called Kariya, he had seniority. Although he shared the same rank as Okami, both were officers. "You are. But you need to know when to stop working. If you can't control yourself they'll give the job to someone else."

"Are you hoping for this? You wish to become Game Master for this week?!" Okami looked like he was about to fight Kariya over this.

Kariya was quick to correct, "God no. I hate being Game Master. If you don't chill out the Conductor will have a word with you." The term 'have a word with you' roughly meant having the life beaten out of him. Possibly erasure. He was helping Okami, but the wolf reaper failed to see it.

He should have thanked Kariya, but instead he just threatened the players, "I've got your scent, players. I've got your scent." He vanished at the same time as Kariya. All the reapers did. The mission was over. As it should have been.

Nanami felt terrible. All of the players who were erased. Right in front of her. It was mortifying and she felt herself shaking. What right did she have to live and they did not? Life wasn't fair, she knew. But she never thought she'd have to see anything like this in her life.

Then she heard laughter of all things. Laughter. Not something she wanted to hear. Weiss was having a jolly chuckle, it might have been he just survived a tramatic experience. That might have been his way of coping, "That was funny. Players were expecting other people to save them." He stopped his little chuckle to look at Nanami. He felt no empathy, he felt nothing for them. He LAUGHED at them. For what? Being helpless?

Nanami looked at him in disbelief, "You... you're laughing at them?"

Weiss looked surprised. "Well not anymore, no. The moment passed."

Nanami got up clenching a fist, she wanted to hit him. She wanted to hit him a lot. "Why?"

Weiss changed his expression from his usual fake smile into something that seemed more real. It was solemn, but cold, "Nanami, death is a part of life and erasure is a part of the game. You'll need to accept that."

Silence.

More silence.

Nanami stopped shaking. She looked at Weiss and then looked away, "That doesn't give you the right to laugh at them. You're despicable."

Weiss didn't argue, "Sorry, it may have something to do with my price? If it really bothers you that much, I won't laugh at them again. We're partners now and I'm going to have to trust you. You did well today, Nanami. Not everyone survived. But be grateful that you did. The days coming are going to be worse. I look forward to winning the game with you."

Nanami didn't feel better. Something was wrong with Weiss. Something was wrong with her. Something was wrong with this game. He might be able to trust her, but she couldn't trust him. Not in the slightest. They both had interest to survive. She could trust him enough for that. They'd have to survive either way. This was the Reaper's game. It sickened her, but Weiss was right in a way. She should be grateful and the days were going to get worse. "Promise you won't laugh at death again."

Weiss was quiet. Then he did that blank smile of his, "Promise."

XXXXX

"Why do we have so many players? There's been too many for weeks! Weeks!" A hot headed reaper squealed with her pink hair seeming to be on fire from the rage. The reaper had never seen this many players before. Every week there were more and more. What was worse is players were surviving the reapers game. She couldn't stand it, "And I STILL haven't got my promotion!"

The last complaint was one her orange haired partner saw coming. Kariya could admit that the players alive was unusual, but he never felt like complaining, "Weren't you whining some time ago about there being too few?" Except for when it made Uzuki angry, was it bad he did it for cheap laughs? He was a natural troll. Watching her get mad was funny. No harm meant.

Uzuki snarled, "Nevermind that! There's players everywhere! We need to make the game harder!"

Kariya twirled a lollipop skillfully before letting it rest in his mouth, "Think they're a step ahead of you… We brought Okami out of retirement."

Uzuki paused a moment and remembered him. "Ohh… Isn't he the one who got dismissed?"

Uzuki was quick to calm down and Kariya was quick to anger her again, "Didn't take long to get to game master… did it?"

Uzuki's rage returned again and one might wonder how long it would take her to get an aneurysm "He was dismissed! He shouldn't be game master! You should! You never .lost control of yourself!"

Kariya attempted to calm her after he had his fun, "I never tried either. I've got veteran status and plenty of points, what am I going to do with more?"

Uzuki grabbed him by the shirt and made several death threats. Some didn't even make sense. "I'll kill you with a giraffe!" Like that one. She finally told him, "You're how I'm going to get my promotion! I WANT my promotion!"

Kariya had to exhale a light sigh and tell her, "Listen… Okami being here can only mean one thing. They don't want players to survive. Okami… he's insane."

Which didn't mean much except Okami even made reapers look sane. "I KNOW!" Except for maybe Uzuki.

Kariya looked at the players below, "He's already erased quite a few of them. He's making everyone look bad…"

Uzuki made herself look bad, "I'll not be outdone by that wolf weirdo! He has to be cheating! Cheating!"

Kariya glanced around with a vacant expression on face and body, "Nope… don't think he is. He almost lost his temper and summoned more Noise than allowed, but he's not cheating."

Uzuki wouldn't have it, "He has to be! He's stolen my promotion!" Clearly Uzuki was on another rampage.

Kariya had enough fun being an ass. Now to business, "How about a game? You'll love it."

Uzuki perked up a little, "A game?" The angered reaper waited to hear how'd she lose to one of Kariya's stupid bets.

"Whoever catches Okami cheating… while erasing the most players. Buys a bowel of ramen for me-" He quickly corrected himself, "I mean the person who wins. Whoever wins gets treated to Ramen. Sound fun?"

Uzuki thought a moment. She knew perfectly well Kariya would win if he tried. But Kariya never tried, "Alright." She said after a long pause. She took a happy pose, "You're on! I'll erase more players than you or prove Okami's a cheater." The reaper let out a giggle.

Kariya let loose a light smile, "That's a good girl." He had no intention of winning. But it was wise to keep an eye on Okami and these huge numbers of players. There shouldn't have been that many deaths in Shibuya given the population. But that wasn't his issue. For now he'd not question providence.

**End Week One, Day One: Find Me**

**Question of Review**: This is where I pose a question which you can answer on the review if you like. The first one for this chapter is one I'd like to draw out a little opinion. What is your favorite character who appeared in this chapter. It can be new or old. But please tell me why. A little crowd involvement goes a long way. : )

Author's note: I know you all want to see original characters, I know... I know. But I can't exactly open with Neku. I had two options when making this fanfic. I could either make the main characters weaker, or make new characters up. I refuse to make old characters weaker for no reason. They'll be making an appearance in this story, but you better belief I'd rather the canon be kick ass. The new characters aren't here to replace the old characters. I have too much respect for TWEWY to do away with anyone's favorite Player/ Reaper. Expect to see them and when you see them.

Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of The World Ends with You Too. There will be more following, though there's no set timetable. Also I give you fair warning now. Some chapters were written long ago and they weren't written well. Although the story will never completely change, I will take the time to eventually edit the poorly made chapters. Part of it is document errors and part of it is just poor writing. If you skip to the last chapters, you'll know what to expect from me. I will finish the story. I know how the story ends, but I'm finally taking the time to pretty up some of the older chapters.

If you'd like to review, I welcome anything you have to say about the fic (good or bad) and by all means go into detail. Just check to make sure no one's told me in a recent comment. If you don't want to comment, don't sweat it. You don't owe me a review, buuutttt... if you're feeling generous ^^

For the current Beta visit the forum

topic/75721/103690579/1/The-Final-Day

-0er0 out.


	2. Week One, Day Two: Listen to Me

Author's notes: Thanks for reading the first chapter. Before you go on, please comment on the last chapter... please? 0er0 likes reviews. .

Any feedback would greatly help me. Anything you saw good, bad or ugly. And as always thank you for reading. If you don't know what to put I've given a question below I'd like to answer which I believe may add to the fun of reading. Yes, I am working on editing and I have to say I'm a little surprised how many readers I lost due to unedited work. To remedy this I'm improving the overall quality of the fic and will gladly take any critiques that can be given. Remember, if you don't comment, you aren't heard. If you aren't heard, nothing changes.

Answer to a common question: The original reapers I made are a direct replacement to those who died. I wanted the same feel of the original story, but I can't make a new story without new characters. Yes I apologize if the first week seems based on the original characters, but this was necessary. I know a lot of you wonder why I focus so much on people who never played TWEWY. But I think it's important to recognize one of the common themes of TWEWY is to expand your world. Part of that is letting new people see it. The canon characters are too experienced of players to have ordinary games be a threat. But you've already seen how they're going to appear. There's something going on in Shibuya and this game has something to do with it. Read on.

XXXXX

"I need not answer to you, woman! You are not above me in this pack." Okami looked as ragged as ever.

He spoke to a female hidden in the shadows. You couldn't get a good look at her, but she was writing notes down. The female reaper didn't even look up to talk to Okami. Clearly she had no interest in what he had to say and probably never would, "Report how many players have been erased."

Okami let loose an annoyed snarl and demanded, "Where is the alpha dog? The leader of the pack! The Conductor!"

The female told him with distaste, "The Conductor is absent and you'll find he often is. He's usually busy with other matters, matters which you need not concern yourself with. I report to him on day five and if he's in the mood… day three."

Okami cracked his knuckles, "I smell a rat. The alpha male should always be in the presence of his wolves. Letting all members of the pack be reminded of his strength. Not hiding in the shadows like a cat." It didn't take much guessing to know Okami didn't like cats.

Kotori was getting annoyed by the dog references. Although it seemed she was the only person who was both sane and a reaper. Though to some degree it made sense, reapers are by nature completely mad. After a light sigh she'd ask him again, "The players… how many did you erase?"

Okami growled and confessed, "I don't know how many. I need not remember my prey. They were devoured by the noise, their predator. I need not care how many survive. All players will be erased by the time my hunt ends. Tell the Conductor they'll all be devoured! All of them crushed by the jaws of erasure!" Clearly he liked his job and liked it to a fault.

Kotori wrote down something down and decided it best to walk away. "Loyal dog. But a dog nevertheless. You're brash and think nothing of consequences or order. At any rate, the number of players erased can be found out via support reapers. I'll ask them. You're dismissed. As you're clearly not fit for this kind of work."

He left after a low growl, "Watch your clever mouth, bitch." Oh wow? Did that make her a female dog or did that make her just unlikable?

Kotori walked away with suspicion about Okami. It was wise to be suspicious of all reapers, but Okami was particularly out of control. He was a genius at eliminating players, but couldn't count or read worth a damn. Okami was a fool in the eyes of Kotori, the one reaper under the Conductor. Kotori had surpassed every reaper before her, but Okami was a threat. The woman rather enjoyed her role of being under the Conductor, she'd not lose that role to such a ruffian. Okami needed to be watched and if need be, she'd do the watching. She hoped for nothing but his complete failure this week. "Were we really so desperate to eliminate players to call on the likes of him?... I suppose the services rendered will do. No player has ever made it to day six under Okami. His power as a reaper is exceptional… and his ability to erase players is undeniable. Perhaps a fool… but a fool with a use.

"I'll be watching the fool closely." Kotori was done thinking aloud, she had more data to collect. She collected it not because she was organized, but because she was the only one who would gather data at all. Everyone needed the numbers. The support reapers and even the Game Master needed the stats. Well if they needed someone to play secretary it might as well be her. If they hired a normal human to do this kind work they'd be dead by now. Someone like Okami would have killed just for asking questions. Kotori knew why Okami did not attack her, he knew exactly how strong she was. He knew of her reputation. She'd ended reapers. She wasn't as good at eliminating players, but she was damned good at getting players to kill whoever she needed dead. Still she'd hit her brick wall. She couldn't pass the Conductor, he was too strong. At least for now. She could play her part. The Conductor was a genius, but had no interest in gathering data. He could use the data faster than anyone else, but he wouldn't go get it. Well, with the Conductor there was no telling how much he noticed at a glance. So maybe he never needed to write it down. Kotori was no bookworm, but she believed in order. Every reaper under her had no interest in order, only chaos. That was what made her invaluable. Even if she did not love being a type of secretary, it suited her purposes and gave access to powerful pieces of information. "The players will need help if they are to survive… I must act." Her purple eyes squinted with purpose in the dark.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Good morning." Weiss said in a cheery fashion, with an ill fitted smile still on his face. Nanami merely had a staring contest with the floor. After all that happened yesterday. Her partner laughed at players being erased as if chuckling at a mildly funny joke.

It was sick and that still bothered her. His price might have had something to do with it? Maybe he lost his empathy for other people? Or something like that? I mean even if that were true, she didn't know if you could just forget him acting the way he did. Nanami had a lot of targets for her anger, but Weiss shouldn't be the first. The Reapers did this. Still she couldn't comprehend what anyone would find funny about others being erased. She wondered if she got paired with a psychopath and she was right to wonder.

Weiss seemed surprised that she was still bothered, "Does it still bother you what happened the other day? I suppose it does. The look on your face makes that clear enough. Did you know any of those people? Were they friends of yours?" It was a feign attempt to understand what was wrong. He was trying in his own sort of way, but it only further proved he was a psychopath. It didn't occur to him that common human sympathy was the reason.

"I didn't know them, they were just other people." She tried to explain.

"But you can't really care about everyone can you? I mean if you cared about everyone all the time you'd die of sadness. There's a lot of death and unfairness in the world, wouldn't it be better to just to acknowledge that as something you should never let hurt you?" He had a point in a weird sort of way. If you jaded yourself to the bad in the world it wouldn't hurt so bad. Was that it? Him being jaded? Well to become jaded to something usually you had to see it before.

Nanami sighed, "Just next time be more respectful."

Weiss gave one of those annoying smiles of his, "Alright. I will. But..."

"But what?"

"You'll need to make preparations. When a mission reaches day seven there's usually only two to four people left. You will have to see others be erased and there's going to be a time when you should stand back. Will you be sad every time you see another human die? Is that really how you want to live?" He didn't sound condescending, but the words should have meant that.

Nanami didn't want to make things worse. Weiss was her partner. "Part of being human is feeling sad sometimes. It's better to feel sad than to feel nothing."

Weiss heard that and didn't know what to say, "It depends on the sadness, Nanami. Some choose to feel nothing. They distance themselves from what they hold dear. It's to protect themselves from experiencing more pain. It's a common practice to use apathy as a defense."

"That's selfish though."

"What?"

"Selfish, that's just a means of protecting yourself. You're supposed to be open to others and feel what they feel. Someone I respect once told me to 'Expand your world'. You'll never grow as a person if you don't." Nanami was very opinionated.

Something about what she said struck a cord with Weiss. He remembered that quote from somewhere. He heard it. Yes! He knew someone who said that once before. Someone important once told him that. Unlike the other memories this was sudden and full. Hanekoma, the owner of a local coffee shop and Producer of Shibuya. At least he was Producer back then. Not anymore. Something happened, something big happened. It wasn't like Weiss didn't already have these memories it was just it seemed only now he was allowed to remember them. A single thought could trigger it, but the real question he had is how did he forget in the first place. Why couldn't he remember this a moment ago? Hanekoma had done all sorts of things for the city. There were memories of Joshua too, but he couldn't seem to remember them now. There was some resentment to Joshua, some irritation that couldn't be described. Then there was Neku Sakuraba, he remembered watching Neku Sakuraba back then. But where? That he couldn't remember. For years he'd been meeting with Hanekoma and he'd even seen Joshua enter sometimes.

"Expand your world? So even you are hearing that..."

"I believe we should care about those around us, I believe that's part of what makes us human."

"Expanding your world only has one flaw."

Nanami gave him her attention, "Flaw?"

Weiss dropped his smile, "If you expand your world too much, you could grow into something you never anticipated. There are times a culture can expand far beyond what it can handle."

Nanami cocked her head, Weiss knew something. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Weiss looked at the sky, he saw it. He always saw it. It was that looming Noise symbol in the sky. It was a threat and a warning to those who knew of it. The Noise were coming. What happened when they came? It was difficult to remember. Weiss gave her one of those fake smiles, "It just means that expanding has it's limits. Sometimes it's better to stand back and see what happens."

What an odd comment, Nanami didn't agree, "What good can be made by standing back and watching?"

Weiss responded, "Well watching is what you should do most of the time, if you want to learn about another's world you need to watch. Taking an action always has a consequence, even if you can't see it right away. I do my best to see long term consequences before I act. Still... there's some truth to what you say. Far too few act."

Nanami didn't mean to keep this conversation going as long as she had. The more she learned about Weiss the less he made sense. He was jaded to death, he closed himself off to other human's feelings, why? Now he talked about consequences to expanding a world, but he was unable to name them. This was mysterious. Some people describe mysterious as something good, but mysteries are only good if they have appropriate endings and are played up well. This was just aggravating. "We need to talk more about our pasts later. That way I can understand what you mean a little."

Weiss agreed with that fake smile of his, "Alright."

Then came the mission.

**Week 1 Day 2: Listen to Me**

_Reach Cat Street or face the hounds. No time limit._ –The Reapers

Weiss looked at his silver phone his gold eyes reflecting the light, "I suppose we'll talk later. However… know that I respect your view and we'll need to work together if we're to survive the week." He could have just been saying that just for the sake of survival. Hell that's what he WAS saying it for, but that didn't make him a liar.

Nanami looked at her phone with an understandable amount of disbelief of how well she could handle the Reaper's game, "This is the mission?"

It seemed remarkably easy to her. Weiss couldn't really see how it was hard either, it probably wasn't. "They'll need to put up a lot of barriers…" Weiss said in a factual tone. He was deep in thought trying to predict the Reaper's actions. Okami was the Game Master, what's more he was a Reaper. Reaper's wouldn't just let players casually walk to their objective. Oh, now it made sense. Players were going to let their guard down. There was no time limit, but you could bet there was an ambush or two along the way. The Reapers were going to hit whoever was vulnerable. Or they were going to make difficult barriers to pass.

Nanami asked with clear inexperience, "Barriers? Like the one we saw yesterday? They use those to control where players have to go, right?"

Weiss could only nod, "A condition must be met in order for the barrier to be removed. A support reaper nearby often chooses the condition. Support reapers do not attack players with noise like the reaper we saw yesterday." He made another unnecessary reminder, to ensure she understood.

Nanami didn't like the sound of that and honestly no player would, "Sounds like they could make a whole mission off a barrier if the request was ludicrous enough…"

This caused the white haired boy to grin with both eyes happily closed, "Wouldn't put it past them. This is my first game… so I don't really know what they'd throw at us. I will bet there is some conduct to justify what they are allowed to ask of us. I'm just a player, so I don't know their inner workings. I just remember the rules for some reason… I must have read it somewhere..." He remembered reading a book about this somewhere. He remembered drinking coffee while he did. It was weird, he had a damn near photographic memory about those rules. He might remember one rule perfectly and the other was mentally blurred. It as disturbing that he could remember how many tiny grains of sugar were on the table, but some of the words were blurred out in the book he was reading. He could remember, the information was in his head, but it's just as if he wasn't allowed to remember.

Nanami would shrug and make a suggestion, "Well… since there isn't a time limit… We can take our time, right? Get prepared and all?"

Weiss seemed to think the idea was good enough, "Why not? Anywhere you care to stop?"

Nanami didn't take very long to thinking about it. Her poker face was on. She was trying her best not to hop. "Let's stop by Darklit Entertainment. It's on the way to Catstreet and I really would like to go."

Weiss smiled at the fact the girl was failing to bury her excitement, he read her easily enough and it's not like it was much of a challenge. Anyone could have guessed she wanted to go really bad.

The boy fished for a comment about what part of it she wanted to go, "I like the books there. That's what they sell, right?" Obviously they sold more than that, but Nanami was probably going to talk about whatever interested her about it.

Nanami sounded like a complete fangirl for a few seconds, "Not only books! They have the best of everything! Art! Magazines! Games! Fashion! They even dominate Tin Pin Slammer!" Wow, she really wanted to go there. This wasn't just a convenient stop; she had personal reasons to go there.

Weiss could only grin, the unnecessary amounts of excitement made him do it. "Wow… sounds like you really like that place."

The understatement was as obvious as an exploding grenade. Nanami gave an embarrassed smile and looked to the left, "It was my dream job… I applied and they accepted… but..."

Something happened? Well if she didn't say it, that meant she didn't want to. It might be better not to pry. "Well..."

Nanami stopped herself there, "Let's just head there, OK?"

Weiss couldn't complain, he needed to consider buying some new pins while he there. His starter pins wouldn't do. New pins meant new psyches and new psyches meant dead noise.

Darklit Entertainment was a building that towered over all others. It had several magazines, manga and novels that no other company could provide. It started out as a company that only sold written works and quickly climbed the market. It began to expand into all forms of entertainment. It bought out a few gaming companies, it hired an art development team. It bought out clothing stores and quickly became a giant in Shibuya. How it became so popular in only a few years was beyond the competition's feeble imagination. The head of the company had a secret weapon: Cat. Cat was a pen name of a genius. Every artwork was a hit, every written work was genius. Money, money and more money would flood in from anything he created. Darklit Entertainment was quick to recruit him or find him for that matter. How they recruited him was a company secret, no one had any idea who he was or even if it was a group. Somewhere in the streets of Shibuya was a walking art genius and Darklit Entertainment owned him. Cat recently only sent his art and novels to Darklit Entertainment and that was probably where the sudden success came from. The leader of the company was an unmistakable marketing genius, he would buy into anything and everything that became successful and he'd do it at the right time. The man's charisma was so great that anything he did, others copied. It's as if his will became reality. Shibuya was in the palm of his hand as well as his calling card. If you wanted into movies, you'd talk to him. If you wanted to make a game, you'd talk to him. If you wanted to open a shop somewhere without being crushed by the competitive market… you had better talk to him. Darklit Entertainment understood Shibuya and the company knew it. They had trends and they had money.

Weiss entered Darklit headquarters with wandering eyes. He was impressed by the new Ramen/ coffee shop they opened. The main building was large, but honestly there were lots of little buildings owned by Darklit Entertainment. Anyone had to guess that Ramen and coffee went horribly together, but it seemed that it had plenty of customers. The employees from the upper levels ate there and drank coffee. As well as some people who were visiting the equivalent of a shopping mall below. Lots of little stores where you could buy the latest Darklit products. There were lines. Yes, lines. Above the new coffee shop within the huge building was written, Tradition meets Tech –Darklit Ramen.

"I'm surprised they have an internet café and sells awesome Ramen in the same place… Shibuya seems to love it." Nanami was ecstatic, "That's brilliant!" People looked at her. Oh, they could see her now?

Weiss pointed at a reaper marking artwork on the wall of the busy company. "Other people can see you here. Those markings let regular folks see us during the game. Try not to make a scene."

Nanami blushed as she embarrassed herself, which honestly only makes girls look cuter. "Sorry." Other people dismissed her quickly. Apparently she hadn't been the first person to gush.

Weiss looked around and spoke as he scanned the area, "This place is crowded… every shop is full… adults… kids… I think if you looked enough you might find some grandparents…"

Nanami grabbed his hand and pulled him. He had no say in the matter, she was bringing him. Clearly she was enjoying herself. "Let's check out the new Ramen shop." Weiss couldn't stop himself from going in, no really... he couldn't. Weiss couldn't stop himself from being yanked by his excited partner. It was like being yanked by an Olympics runner.

"Darklit Ramen at your service." Said a suited man who was clearly the manager.

"Hello, interesting ideas you have here... Nanami... please let go of my hand." Weiss said somewhat unsure what to think of being given a stick of teeth whitening gum. They had those being given out like mints. But the suited man handed him one to try. Definitely a manager type.

"These are given out for free to all employees and new customers. After coffee have a stick of this gum, I promise the coffee won't stain your teeth. Save money on dental." The manager was polite, but imposing. The man had a goatee and a sleazy haircut. "I'm Mokoto. I'm one of the managers of Darklit entertainment… I'm making sure this place is in its best shape and by the customer's I'd say I'm doing my job." The place was clean and stylish. Not pretentious in the least.

Nanami agreed by nodding at him, "Definitely."

Mokoto gave the girl an odd look, he felt like he'd seen her before. Since the manager couldn't place where he saw her, he just kept talking. "But the real credit comes from the best cook Shibuya's ever seen."

A man wearing a bandana behind the counter took a bow. Nanami gasped, "You're the owner of Ramen Don!"

The elder man would scratch the back of his head, "Well I actually closed down shop. Now I'm cooking the same stuff here. Mokoto here made sure that I had the same kitchen. He's the one getting me customers. I'm just making what I always have and I'm free to come up with my own creative recipes. I just make sure the food is perfect for the customers. Mokoto is the one who brings me all the traffic."

Mokoto smiled and countered, "And you're the one bringing them back. Glad to be back with you, pops. The president of this place sure hooked us up." Weiss rubbed his chin and said, "Did Darklit Entertainment buy out Ramen Don?"

The old man tried to put words to it. Because it wasn't just a simple buy out, "Well… didn't feel like it… The head of the whole company came in himself… he gave me a really good offer. A really good offer. He wanted me to cook the way I wanted. What he wanted was to keep the traditional ramen feel alive. He wanted to give me the resources I needed and the freedom to use them. Now I have made many recipes that are enjoyed at some food chains. What's better is that they're giving me credit for all the work I do?"

Mokoto grabbed an empty bowl and showed it to Nanami, on the bottom of the bowl was a note thanking the customer, the ingredients and thanked the cook. "The president's idea. It's actually easy to put writing on the bottom of the bowls. We figured out a good way to do it."

Weiss was impressed, "Nice touch. You put the recipe ingredients on different bowls. You have a special bowl for every dish, eh?"

Mokoto winked, "Actually sometimes we just slap a sticker on that has the cooking instructions. It's written in food coloring and the sticker itself is edible. Basically you can read what you just ate. Cool, right?" It totally was.

Nanami brightened up it seemed a lot cooler to her than her partner. Mokoto went on, "Nice meeting you both, try the coffee. I have some other customers to greet at other stores, but if you need anything don't hesitate to bother the old man." Oh of course he gave his work buddy hell.

The cook rolled his eyes, "Kids these days... Well he's right! I'm getting old and saying 'kids these days'! Ha! You can order up here or talk to one of my assistants, they'll bring your food over for you!" He'd have enough customers to keep him busy all day.

Weiss walked by the bookstore and glance around at the section devoted to Cat. "Only in Shibuya… will you find an aisle devoted to one author."

Nanami walked up next to him, "You've been here before?"

Weiss nodded with a smile, "Every so often. I've read all of his works."

Nanami smiled herself and threw a glance as they passed the clothing section, "There's Eri Air, Eri is a brilliant clothing designer… I've always wanted to meet her. Apparently the company owners and she are good friends. She puts a lot of work into what she does."

Weiss smirked, "Shiki and she both do." Wait? He knew that? Well apparently he did.

Nanami raised an eyebrow, "You know Shiki?"

Weiss could see mental images of the girl flood his mind. She looked like Eri back then. She saw an image of her fighting the old Conductor, she was being controlled by him. A image of victory as Neku combined the power of all his partners to smite a giant dragon Noise. Shiki and Neku happily meeting for the first time. He saw these images and felt the emotion in them. But his face didn't change. Weiss put on a fake smile and told Nanami,

"Shiki is famous after all. She's a talented seamstress. Anyone who's lived in Shibuya knows. It shouldn't surprise you I knew."

Excuses. He knew a LOT about Shiki. But how did he get those images? He definitely couldn't have been there. In fact he had memories where he was in places. Physically there and then he had other memories that definitely were his, but there was no way they could have been. There was no way an observer could have seen these things. Perhaps someone transplanted memories to him? A strange thought, but possible. The Composer? The Producer? They had the means, he could suppose, but no reason. He needed to know more.

"Should we go in?" She asked?

Weiss gave a quick response and started to walk away, "You can if you want."

The girl paused a moment and then shook her head. Wow, her head didn't hurt like that a second ago. The headache only got worse the closer she got to the store. So she stepped back and felt relief. "Maybe later. My head hurts now."

Weiss dismissed it, but took note. He was too busy thinking about himself. Or rather, he partly thought about Joshua. The Composer was in total command of the city. The fact Joshua was in charge angered and relieved him. He couldn't describe it. Like he couldn't decide what to think of Joshua despite knowing exactly what kind of person he was. He must have had some history with Joshua? Maybe or maybe not, he could tell later.

Weiss kept his hands in his pocket as he entered the store he was aiming for. Nanami had to look around in confusion as Weiss entered the store. That couldn't be right. She would never be caught dead here, "Pin Hub? Don't go in there!"

Weiss turned and gave a curious look back, "Don't like Tin Pin?"

The girl began to rant, "Don't make me gag… that game cost me a boyfriend when I was in high school…"

Weiss found that perplexing, "He dumped you because you couldn't slam?"

Nanami's eyes crossed with annoyance, "I can't believe you play it… please tell me you don't… That boy... he was mad I beat him at his own game..." Oh that sounded funny. A nerdy boy losing to a game of Tin Pin to Nanami and her getting dumped for it. Too cute.

Weiss would only smile at her clearly entertaining the thought of telling her that he did, "Trust me, I'm not going in here to play Tin Pin. I'm here to get something that will help us through the week." More pins. Pins were what he used his psyches with. If he got more he'd have more abilities to access. Perhaps later he'd have a more solid list of abilities to help him beat the many opponents throughout the week. The first on his mind was Okami. That man (if he could be called a man) was completely mad.

Nanami leaned against the wall with a defeated sigh, "I'll just wait outside… I don't want to bring back old memories... stupid game." Nanami could act like a little girl sometimes. Hopefully there was some healthy balance between little and big girl.

Weiss didn't feel the need for her to come anyway, "It's fine you can only use one psych anyway. Also I'll take note that you're good at tinpin."

The girl looked at her notebook and sighed. It was true… she had a pin on her that only worked with her notebook. It's true she could do a lot with that Notebook, but sheShe didn't even notice the pin for the longest time. The girl muttered while the wait for Weiss continued, "He seems nice now, but… he's still a little… off." Nanami muttered with clear disdain. She hadn't forgotten him laughing when players were being erased. Her suspicion was he'd seen that kind of thing before. That wasn't just his way of coping, that kind of behavior only came from repeated exposure. He had seen people erased enough to stop caring. She needed to watch him.

XXXXX

Two players ran, one boy and one girl. Each with a grin on their face, "I LOVE easy missions!" The skater boy said.

The girl, probably his partner, was having trouble keeping up. "Slow down!" She moaned trying to catch her breath. She was falling to her knees and wondering what the big rush was about.

The boy turned and ran backwards, "I'mma leave you if you don't keep running." What was he a gazelle?

The girl took a few breathes and gave an annoyed look to the excited boy running in place. "You're gonna kill me if I keep running this fast." She said under her breath. But her partner wasn't the one who was going to kill her. And she wasn't going to be the one to die first.

A gunshot echoed.

The gunshot went off and her partner had been erased. "No!" She shouted. When she turned her head and a second shot went off. Right where she was shot a noise appeared and cut into her. It took another shot and with another shot came another noise. The noise appeared instantly where the bullet would have hit. And a noise appearing right where you were shot meant they could attack and you weren't going to be prepared for it. The girl exploded into white static. No blood or gore, but still horrifying.

On top of a record store sat a man with a sniper rifle. The reaper wings shot out of his military vest and his camouflage pants. He had hair short enough some people had more on their face. The reaper cocked the sniper rifle and smirked, "Two down… plenty more to go… These players aren't ready for the land down under. It's hell they've not yet known." He flipped his sniper rifle around the strap and stylishly reloaded two twin pistols. Twenty two barrel sized pistols meant really cheap ammo. He wasn't interested in quality so much as ammo you could buy for a few cents. "Far as I'm concerned, anything goes in the down under." 'Down under' clearly meant Underground. This was a reaper and he was shooting noise at players.

XXXX

Weiss had finished his shopping. He found some rather good pins. What he didn't find was his partner. She wasn't waiting outside the pin store, so where was she? The boy could only sigh. The girl could be anywhere in the building that was the size of a multi story mall. He hoped he find her if he walked towards the Darklit Ramen, he'd surely find her along the way. He didn't find her, but she found him. Nanami was wearing completely different clothes.

"How do I look?" Nanami surprised him.

Weiss had to pause a moment, he had to be careful with what he said next. He never was good at the game where he had to not only compliment a girl… but compliment her in the RIGHT way. "You look stylish... uhh... highly attractive?" Apparently Weiss could be a social idiot.

And like any boy, he failed at complimenting the girl in the way she hoped. "Highly attractive?..."

Nanami didn't know what to say to that. Weiss tried to correct himself, "You look lovely." He said after a cough.

That was close enough to the answer Nanami wanted, but supposed that would do, "Thank you."

The older girl said happily and savored the compliment for what it was worth. Weiss gave a warning, "Also… you should never leave your partner. If you do… any noise could take you out. You need your partner to fight."

This store should have been safe, but he was probably right. Nanami took the time to apologize. "I'm sorry… I'll be more careful next time… Do you want to buy some clothes? You should know that Shibuya is full of trends that are popular."

Weiss would look at his clothes and then look at her, "I'll make my own trends." He said in a somewhat cool tone.

A smirk.

The two of them headed to Catstreet. Weiss would note that she changed to shoes she could run easily in and (of course) striped knee socks. The shorts she now wore were respectably long and loose enough to give her legs some breathing room. Her shirt was pink with light green letters written, _No Parking._ And yes it was written across the bust area of the shirt. Kinda funny. Weiss wondered why she even changed if no one could see her wear it.

On her neck she wore a green scarf with pink polka dots. Why she wore that, he'd never know. On a string a shoulder bag slung behind her, she had her notebook and pen in it most likely. Weiss didn't let his eyes wander as long as they wanted to, he had a mission to complete and most likely there was a trap waiting for them. His attention needed to be on the road ahead. There were tons of places where you could take cover or hide. That meant Reapers could be waiting to ambush. They ran past all the hiding spots until he saw a clearing. It was just a straight road. There were only a few places you could hide and multiple angles to be seen. Oh no. His face changed to worried.

."So… what are you looking for?" Nanami asked as she slowed to a walk. Weiss had stopped walking, but she kept going. Something was definitely up. Weiss stopped looking. Then gave a creepy satisfied smirk, "Umm, Weiss?"

That's when the gold eyed reached out to grab the side of her shirt and the upper part of her shorts. Before she could yelp he yanked back for her to fall on her back. Her face was enraged. Then she saw what he did. He moved her from being shot. Although you had to wonder if could have just tugged her by the arm. Pervert.

The gold eyes glared around behind grey shades, "Reapers."

That was a gunshot and it came from the top of a building. Weiss just saved her life, but she didn't feel like thanking him. He did a halfway breast/ buttgrab just a second ago. (Fellas, always remember to ask permission first).

She was almost shot by that reaper. And there he was looking down at them. There was a certain amount of surprise. They must have been the first ones all day to notice him. The bullet that fired didn't fire bullets, but that was a real gun. That was a real SNIPER RIFLE. Who carries those?!

"Good dodge, love." He said smirking and pointing his gun at her again. "Do it again!" He fired his weapon.

Nanami didn't need Weiss to save her this time. She whipped out her notebook and held it up as a shield. She didn't have to stop a bullet, she had to stop a noise moving at the speed of sound. She grunted, but did it. Honestly the noise was moving so fast it took damage.

"That'sa proper bird you have, mate. You're a pair, are ya?"

He stood up from his sniping spot with his rifle pointed at Weiss this time.

Weiss didn't get to answer, he held up a pin that shot energy bolts at him in response. Not a very powerful psych. But Weiss didn't fire and wisely so, if he had actually shot a reaper with his psych, the reaper could attack directly. And despite how things looked, he wasn't attacking directly... technically.

Nanami responded, "He should be so lucky!"

The guy spoke with what might have been an Australian accent, "Don't be cross wid me, love. I know yer a pair. Players are always pairs."

Weiss responded, "We're partners, good sir. Are you done sending noise at us?"

The sniper smiled and then pointed his rifle at the floor. There was a noise symbol on the ground wherever he aimed. Was he going to shoot noise out of his rifle? No he was just summoning one on the ground. His gun was his psych. He was a sniper. "I ain't ever done, mate." When he pulled the trigger he summoned a swarm of bird noise. When he shot the bullet at players the birds moved so fast they could cut a player. It was the same as shooting them, while not actually shooting them. He just summoned them really really fast. Was that legal? Could reapers do that? Guess he could.

The noise needed to be fought. So Weiss took a moment to try out some new pins. He whipped one one that sent out sonic energy rings out. Really effective against groups of flying birds. But he needed more. He mixed in another pin that shot out blue vorpal blades that had a shredding effect as they spun. If they intended to dodge the rings they weren't going to dodge the blades. One bird swooped away and tried to strike, it failed. This was going to be a short fight, the birds had little stamina you just had to hit them.

Nanami was pretty good at hitting the birds, just one at a time. Each pen strike hit a bird with perfect accuracy. She might not even finish a picture before they were dead, Weiss was hurting them too. That's when she saw that Reaper. He introduced himself to them both while they were fighting, "Joe Hawkeye. I'm not your opponent, bird and mate. I'm just here to send them at ya. Most players didn't get past this spot. It's perfect for hunting, where I'm from... we hunt. And I was damned good at it. Here and there."

Nanami felt something odd about that guy. Her head ached in memory. But the battle forced her headache to fade.

Joe Hawkeye wore a rugged cowboy hat and had a jacket laced with guns. "Don't have to worry much about gun permits if you're in the land of the dead, now do ya? You don't get caught here in the down undah."

Nanami finished a picture and sent a wide spread energy blast towards the flock of birds, all died.

"Not bad, love!" He said in a possibly fake Australian accent.

Quite at the same time sent more energy rings and vorpal blades at the enemy. He and Nanami were kicking ass, but he still didn't want to hit the Reaper by accident. Reapers were stronger than players 90 percent of the time. Still they weren't allowed to fight a player in any way except by summoning noise. This guy just barely followed the rules.

"Not bad, mate. You're with this bird? Aww you make a proper pair." The accent was a bit thick, but clearly it would make the reaper easy to remember.

Weiss asked him, "Joe Hawkeye?"

The reaper normally wouldn't answer, but he felt an urge to do so. He'd make sure to see these kids again. "Joe Hawkeye. You're with this pretty bird, aye?" He pointed at Nanami and she kept her notepad ready.

The girl thought about the name, "Is that your real name?"

The cowboy hat wearing military man rested a sniper rifle on his shoulder, "You're a funny bird. I'd fight you myself if the rules allowed. But as luck stands, love... I'm a reaper."

The girl might have actually hit him with one of her notepad projectiles, but was stopped by a raised hand, "Don't… they're allowed to defend themselves."

Joe would keep on grinning, "You're smart, mate. You know the place of a player. Under a reaper's finely polished boot."

The reaper turned to walk away. Weiss gave Nanami a tap on her shoulder, "We should go." The older girl gave him a nod and they both headed to cat street.

On the way there Weiss had something to confess, "By the way… you're getting better at this…"

Nanami looked at him confused as they moved toward the mission objective. No need to say anything about that. Weiss was still better than her. But he felt different today. It was easier to synch. "You almost touched my junk."

Weiss blinked, "Huh?"

"When you grabbed me to pull me out of the way of his fire. You could have just grabbed my arm or something."

Weiss closed his eyes and thought about it, "It was easier to grab your shirt and shorts from where I was standing. Also... what junk?"

Was this guy stupid? "You tried to booty grab. Don't think I didn't notice."

The white haired boy shook his head, "Oh! You were thinking I got some sort of kick out of that! Junk means: butt! I get it now!"

Yeah, he was stupid. "Or breast."

Weiss made a mental note of that, "Well I'll make sure not to touch your 'junk'. Sorry if that bothered you."

"It did. Be more careful next time and don't beat yourself up."

Weiss looked at her confused, he didn't catch the meaning of the phrase, "Now why would I beat myself up? That would hurt."

Nanami could only sigh and she figured out the problem. He didn't understand slang or expressions. He spoke well, but he still needed to understand those. "It's an expression… it means don't worry about it." They were in Catstreet. Her headache was getting worse.

The mission was over. The timer was gone.

"Made it." Weiss said after exhaling a sigh.

Nanami smiled and then let out a shout as sharp pain went through her mind. Her heachache was bad enough to make her yell. It just kept hurting too. It was like a bulging migraine. It felt like a hammer being smashed against her head with every throb. A memory came to her head and she felt every part of it. Down to the very last detail. Her mind began to shiver as she remembered every detail, the moment was coming back to her. Weiss didn't know what to do. All he did was stare as she fell to her knees.

Both of her hands clenched against her head. A vision came to her mind of her standing on that very street walking and talking on her cell phone. Then she remembered the sound of a gunshot and remembered her vision fading as she fell to the ground. She couldn't see who shot her, she was losing consciousness from lack of blood. The memory replayed over and over, it becoming foggier with every replay. The pain kept her from remembering much. "It was here…" Nanami groaned.

She looked at Weiss with a weak frown, "This is where I died."

**End Week One, Day Two: Listen to Me**

**Question of the Chapter:** What character that hasn't appeared yet would you like to appear? If you can't think of any, what character do you think needs to be drawn out more?**  
**

Author's Notes: The blue moon has come. I've edited to my heart's content. I think most of the finer details have been tuned and I've fixed a number of errors. The story as a whole should improve if I continue editing as planned. The earlier chapters are easier to edit due to being shorter. But I do wish people commented on previous chapters like this one. Any thoughts would be nice. I love comments, really I do. It's a habit of many readers not to comment on every chapter, which is bad! Comment! Do it! Well go on! Do it!

I need all the feedback I can get. I'm holding off on writing the newer chapters until I clean up the first week chapters a little. There's some chapters that have a complete lack of proper structure and somehow the Enter button doesn't always translate when I change files.

I know canon characters are few, but I like ensuring the entrances are nice and well put. This chapter seems to be prettied up a little so I'll move on to the next. Bare in mind that I am fully aware of the quality differences of chapters. You can comment on this, but remember that I know.

Hiring editors. No really... I'm hiring editors. It's not a joke, I will hand people money to edit this for me.

After being several weeks in I've got some support. Being so bold to ask I need more. If anyone can provide me any assistance with the story I could greatly speed up the process by which it is made. If you like the story at all write a review if you want to help. Please contact me via fanfiction or by email (which oddly enough I can't actually post on a story forum.) The email is theworldendswithyoutoo(at symbol) . It's an odd way of reading an email but that's the best I can give. I encourage you to keep reading. Wish me luck.

. -0er0 out


	3. Week One, Day Three: Learn from Me

[Author's Notes: Man I'm re-reading this and I'm getting major nostalgia. I need to finish the story, but this editing is important. You can immediately see what chapters haven't been edited so it's becoming increasingly important to edit this up until I get quality. At least I should get the first week edited up so I can give the new readers a fighting chance of finishing. I'm probably not getting many new readers, since I kinda already blew my chance at that... but hey. Still better to have a quality fic than not. ]

XXXX

"How many players were erased?" A familiar female Reaper narrowed those purple eyes at Okami. Her threatening looks must have been losing their touch. Okami wasn't scared enough to show visual signs. If Okami was intimidated he was good at hiding it.

"Wolves don't take trophies… they only take what they need to survive… I commit no memory to the prey I devour." Okami said.

The reaper was a woman who looked close to her prime. She may have been in her late 20s or earlier thirties, but it's hard to tell when dealing with Reapers. Reapers don't always age at the expected rate. "You've erased 70% of the players… Or that's what my records show." The female reaper was clearly within her rights to be suspicious. He'd erased too many players. He wasn't using common tactics and she definitely wouldn't put it past him to cheat. Honestly she'd be cheating if she was in his place, she'd just have enough sense not to kill most of the players already. Better to space it out. "I suspect you of breaking the rules or at least using loopholes. If I'm right, you'll likely be erased... if I'm wrong you'll likely be promoted. You're gambling against the best, Okami." Kotori was under the Conductor for a reason. She was paranoid and she had a viscous reputation for erasing other Reapers.

Okami bent over and rubbed the head of his ghastly blue wolf noise. The wolf was beautiful for a noise. It couldn't have been a normal one, it must have been highly modified or of some importance. Kotori examined it and memorized every detail that could be seen, it was easy enough to guess that it was a remnant of a human. Some humans when they died could be transformed into a Noise. Such things were rare, but not unheard of. Reapers had the ability to take memories of people they once knew and create them in the form of noise. Okami no doubt did the same with the wolf in his company. Despite it being a dog it looked surprisingly feminine and had a grace he could never achieve. Odd considering how masculine Okami was. The wolf reaper never let himself be caught dead near something feminine.

That's probably why he stayed as far away from Kotori as possible. He hated her and she hated him. The problem with Reaper officers is that they all genuinely hated each other. So much so, Kotori would betray Okami in a hearbeat. Okami no doubt felt the same way. Both present wished for the other's misfortune. In fact both were doing more than wishing. Okami did everything in his power to make other reapers look inferior to him. Kotori did everything in her power to sabotage dangerous reapers like him. In fact, she was the one who caught him cheating once before. Long ago she started a dispute, presented her evidence and it ended with him being discharged. Although here he was, back again. The Composer was too lenient. There was good reason for hate in this line of work. Fierce competition between destruction seeking reapers.

Okami turned his attention to the orange haired female before him, "Where's the Conductor, I need only answer to the top dog. You bare your teeth, but you have no bite. If you wish to dig around in my territory... You'd best do so while I'm not on watch. I've broken no rules and you know this. If you accuse me of cheating, you'll only prove to the Conductor you don't know your nose from your tail." Okami didn't feel like pretending she had the upper hand, to him she wasn't worthy of being a reaper. He openly challenged her authority, but whatever respect the Conductor had for her was beyond his mind.

Just the way she dressed made her look stupid, probably to give the false impression of stupidity. She dressed in a skimpy outfit which made it abundantly clear she was female. The shorts she wore were a little tight and showed notable amount of leg. Her upper body covered by a mostly zipped light jacket and one could safely guess she purposely showed cleavage. One might wonder if she wore anything under the jacket and there wasn't a good way to answer that. Maybe a bikini top? Or some underwear, but that'd be the best guess. The jacket and shorts were both purple and her gold colored kneesocks went up all the way to the knee. (Which by the way ladies... if you want to look sexier try out kneesocks and see if the boy you're aiming for likes your legs). If you thought she was tall, you were fooled, on her feet were roller skates. Although she had a number of other shoes she'd wear to appear taller. The extravagantly styled orange hair flattered her, but she would receive no flattery from Okami. She looked the way she did based solely on the fact she could change into a number of other outfits quickly. She was the first reaper to disguise herself or change uniform into something to trick players or Reapers. This was dangerous if you combined good acting. Kotori was tricky and everyone around her knew it, but she did her job. That must be way the Conductor valued her enough to make her second in command. "You've erased 70% of the players by day 2… explain how you did."

"He erased 72.5% of the players! We had 80 to start with and he erased 58! Do the math or die!" The Conductor voice arrived with a blaze of glory out of the shadows. The Conductor couldn't be seen yet, but he was clearly angered by this minor miscalculation.

Kotori knew better than to correct the Conductor at anything math related. So she double checked her data to look for something wrong, she'd blame the data before she disagreed with him. "Yes, Conductor… By my count 56 were erased, I'll double check that data. Also this is the second day… I believe Okami is bending the rules in order to erase players."

The Conductor wasn't visible as he was shouting from another room. Somehow in the tiny amount of time that was given he'd already ran somewhere else. "You don't like how Okami is finding his final solution, Kotori? Math has laws as do we. Different ways to find the same solution! We shall see how he finds his solution." Kotori was right to be suspicious and the Conductor had his own suspicions of Okami, but he needed the manpower.

Okami wouldn't let his reputation be ruined in front of his idol. "Sir! I haven't broken any rules! This bitch doesn't know her place in the pack! I answer to only you, the alpha dog! I have broken no rules! She is trying to improve her standing with the pack and nothing more."

The Conductor finally entered the room, from the sounds of it he was working on a junk pile in the other room. He was tattered and rugged; his hair grey and messy. He wore a ravaged business suit with missing buttons and many cuts. His skin was darker than those around him and on his head was a cap ready to fall into pieces. The best description that could be given would be a mugger in a suit. If you don't think that makes sense, then consider yourself sane. "Don't call me 'sir'! Formality is garbage! Crunch!" He crushed an aluminum can as he tossed it into a junk pile in the other room, "I'll add it to the heap! Okami! I spoke to the Composer and you're to show your work… Kotori will check your numbers and change the formula as needed. Your missions will have conditions added to them as of 600 seconds ago!"

The problem Okami had with his Conductor was this: he never understood what the Conductor "All of your mission plans are to be shown to me and I will add a condition for you to follow. I will observe your behavior and how you handle the players."

Okami didn't even believe her, "Sir?... You would defang a member of your pack?"

The Conductor turned around to walk away, "Negative to the second power. And don't call me 'sir' you restless radian!"

Okami didn't understand So once again Kotori translated for him. "He said yes… we won't um... defang you. We merely need to place a leash on you when needed."

Okami let out a low growl and with him his pet wolf, "I hate being on a leash…" The he pet his pet wolf, "Calm down girl… I'll be fine." The dog let out a whine of empathy for his master.

"This will ensure that you don't divide by zero. Kotori! You'll be responsible for balancing the equation. It's still up to Okami to solve." That meant that Kotori was in the perfect position to screw him over. Kotori wasn't going to get him dismissed this time, she was going to erase this bastard once and for all.

Kotori couldn't have asked for anything better. She agreed without hesitation, "I will make it sure he cannot break any rules, Conductor." Kotori was going to make sure. She'd make him fail while she had the chance. There may come a day when he could surpass her. The orange haired reaper wasn't going to let that happen. This was going to end this week.

XXXX

Catstreet, Weiss remembered this place he came to the Wildkat café often. The boy looked around with weary eyes, as the girl next to him slept a sound sleep. It never took long for a one player to wake up after another woke up. At the end of every mission there was sleep, but even so, some players were easily more tired than others. The white haired boy waited to see if she'd wake up soon. As she let out a slight moan the younger boy knew she was awake, "Are you feeling better?"

Nanami binked awake and she didn't have much to say. She was thinking about what happened yesterday. Sighing in disbelief, "Yeah… my head stopped hurting…" The memory was strong and it cut into her soul. That memory taught her a valuable truth. She knew now without a doubt, "So I really am dead… I felt myself die. I felt the pain of the gunshot."

Weiss grimaced and said with less compassion than he should have, "Well all players are dead… and all of us are playing this game for a second chance at life. You can't be laying in the street when the Reapers arrive. We'd best move." He was trying to help in his own way.

Nanami sat up and looked around. This wasn't a dream, this wasn't a prank, this was the reaper's game. She felt how real it was after she remembered where she died. She remembered the gunshot and with that her head hurt again. Her head hurt more than the gunshot back then. She needed to think of something else, her death wasn't something she needed to remember. Every time she remembered it, a sharp pain followed. Why was thinking of it so painful? Calming her nerves she felt a puzzling thought strike her. Nanami felt surprised she didn't ask her partner sooner, "How did you die?"

Weiss gave pause to the thought as if considering for the first time, "You know… I didn't really think about it…" You know, a lot happened. But he never really questioned it.

That didn't make any sense, that's like the first thing he should think about when entering the reaper game. If you didn't know, at least one should be curious. But by the look on Weiss' face he really didn't care where or how he died.

Nanami didn't hide her confusion, "What? You didn't think about how you died?"

Weiss let himself ponder a moment and it didn't seem to bother him at all, "Hmm… how did I die?" The boy inhaled and exhaled in a calm manner. His eyes were closed, "I don't seem to be able to recall… I know I died but… hmm… thank you. I need to try to think how I died. You reminded me of something I need to know." He didn't do that fake smile, but really thought about it. Nothing came. It didn't look like he tried hard enough to remember or even tried.

That was insane, was he lying? No one forgets how they died and didn't care. The boy simply thanked her for pointing out he didn't know something. It was a habit of his. If he didn't know something he always thanked them. Although it did seem like he was curious to know how he died, he didn't seem bothered. Which disturbed Nanami.

Nanami asked him with some understanding that he was a special case, "You aren't bothered by not knowing how you died?... Shouldn't you be?"

Weiss gave that smile and a response in a cheery manner, "Not really, no. I know I died, should I care how? Knowing how I died isn't going to affect the game at all. If I got worked up over trying to find out... I think that might hinder my ability to survive."

Nanami could only shake her head in disbelief, "I wish I could be as relaxed as you…" The girl spoke a blatant understatement.

Weiss tried his best to explain his feelings on the matter, "Well I'm not really the type to worry. I don't see the point in it. Worry only causes anxiety and anxiety breeds careless mistakes. I can't let myself worry about it... Although I should try to remember how I died… I should start by figuring out where I died. That would be the first step." For what it was worth the players were too distracted to really think things through.

The phone let out two quick beeps and the mission was there. Each of them pulled out the phone and Nanami looked at the mission with puzzled bemusement. Weiss rubbed his chin after looking at it a moment. "Well that's interesting…" Interesting was the wrong word.

Nanami put her phone away and asked, "Is this a joke?..." Weiss looked at his phone checking the wording carefully, "No… they're probably serious."

**Week 1 Day 3: Learn from Me**

_Rest and relax. You have 2 hours. Fail and hear the howl of erasure. –__**The Reapers**_

Not exactly an ordinary mission by any standard. It hardly mattered at this point. It'd be best to try to do as it said. Rest and relax? Was it a trick? Rest and relax? It had to mean something other than actually resting and relaxing. Okami was making up the missions so one could guess that there was a catch. There was a catch last time and Nanami could guess there was something up this time. "What's he up to?" Nanami brooded over what it could mean.

"Coffee?" Weiss interrupted. There was a nearby cafe.

Nanami pondered aloud, "Shouldn't we discuss the mission first?"

Weiss didn't give a thought about that, "We can talk about that while we're having some breakfast."

Wildkat had been getting some business recently, Nanami's headache didn't seem to stop as she walked in, but at least now it was less potent. The memory she had of her death was so powerful, it seemed to be the only thing that meant anything to her now. The rest of her memories of her life felt... empty. She couldn't remember what led up to that and when she tried her headache forced her to stop thinking.

"I know this might be painful, but I'll ask. Do you remember what led up to your death?" Weiss would say happily while waiting for the clerk. T

he girl hid her pain as best she could. Nanami let loose a sigh and gave up on it. "Nope? How about you?" Straining her mind wouldn't get her anywhere and it probably had something to do with her being dead.

"Well well… I'm stunned. Haven't seen you drop by for a while." Said a friendly voice behind the counter, "You'll have the usual?" Hanekoma was the owner of the café, but it was clearly a side job. A man of his talents couldn't be limited to a coffee shop.

"Of course, and find me something tasty to eat."

Hanekoma had to chuckle, "Tasty? Ha! That's a riot! I'll get you your bagel, stale as usual." His sense of humor only ever made Weiss smirk. He handed Weiss a plate with his promised stale bagel and Nanami wondered if his coffee made up for the mediocre quality of food. She took a look and guessed that his coffee wasn't that good either. "Your girlfriend want anything?"

Nanami didn't need to hear that. She held up her hand and politely tried to tell him, "Ohh… I'm not his-"

Weiss interrupted her with his eyes burned on the menu, "I think she'd like the muffin." He completely ignored her protest.

Nanami decided to chime in and set things straight, "A muffin is fine, but I'm really not-" She was cut off.

"She looks nice, you surprise me kid, was beginning to think you were gay." Hanekoma grabbed a plate and threw some food on it.

Nanami felt too surprised to be irritated, in fact she could only blink a few times, "Wait… what?... But as for the girlfriend thing… I'm actually not-"

Hanekoma asked Weiss, expertly stopping the girl from finishing, "What does she want to drink? Coffee?"

Weiss answered as Nanami gave a confused stutter, were they ignoring her? "I think she'll take coffee with sugar and cream, light on both. She's probably watching her figure."

Hanekoma seemed to agree, "Yeah, she's watching her weight. She got that waste from diet, not exercise."

Nanami let out an annoyed squeak, "What?" What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Hanekoma turned and began making the coffee before Nanami could speak, "On a diet, eh? Good girl, you'll thank yourself later when you see boys heads turn, ain't that right, champ?" This wasn't funny. They kept ignoring her.

Weiss nodded happily in response, "Actually I haven't seen her turn any boys head yet, but not many people can see her... Maybe the low fat muffin would be better?"

Not.

Funny.

Nanami protested the indignity, "I'm not on a diet, you sexists!"

Weiss looked like he heard her, but then after a smile and nod, "Of course, of course. Do you have any no fat muffins?"

Hanekoma felt his opinion was needed, "Well if she's that adamant I do have some tofu."

Nanami was perplexed, she felt completely stunned. "Huh?"

Weiss seemed pleased with that idea, "Perfect! Tofu's really healthy and perfect for her to stay on diet! Add it to my tab."

Hanekoma commented, "Not bad, champ. Always pay for the girl, it sends good messages. Let's her know know you're a supportive boyfriend." Nanami's eyes were now crossed at this point, "I have a feeling… neither of you are actually listenin-"

Hanekoma looked at Weiss and pointed his thumb at Nanami, "She sure talks a lot. Think you can handle it?"

Weiss let out a light chuckle, "You get used to it."

Nanami could only let out a defeated moan as she turned to sit at a table. They were doing this on purpose.

Time passes.

"So… um… you come here often?" Nanami asked poking the tofu on the plate wondering how anyone could stand the stuff.

Weiss sipped a bit of his coffee and give the girl a light smile, "I like the coffee, found myself coming here a lot. The coffee is super addictive." He drank and exhaled pleasure.

Nanami poked the tofu again as it jiggled, "Umm… tofu is made from soybeans right?"

Weiss took another slow sip of the coffee, "Not sure, I should find out though, thank you for pointing out something I didn't know."

Now Nanami started noticing him thanking her if he didn't know something. Nanami paused and then asked him what would soon be a personal question, "Weiss… I should ask… since we're both partners…" She wasn't sure if she should ask but proceeded, "What was your life like? I mean… before the game?"

Weiss stopped sipping his coffee and give another refreshed exhale. "Not very interesting, I'm afraid. I've been living in Shibuya for six years. I had a hotel room in my name reserved when I got here. That's where I lived, fairly simple hotel."

Nanami gave it some thought, "Reserved?... For how long?..." Weiss answered as if nothing was unusual about it, "Oh, six years. For my first year of Shibuya I wanted to visit every major location. I wanted to see everything about Shibuya, people, culture and well… everything. I would go to see all the tourist spots, malls, concerts and do anything I could to familiarize myself with Shibuya. Master the culture. I think every day I found somewhere new to go. I saw a few different stores or sights. It's a lively city."

Nanami finally took a bite of tofu and found the texture… unsettling, "So… you wandered around Shibuya for a year…" She didn't dwell on it until more info came.

Weiss bit his bagel and nodded, "More or less, I wanted to learn the city as best I could. I found myself coming here once and really liked the coffee. I think I'd come by for a coffee every morning… During my second year here I decided to attend high school. I went go to a local high school first and tried my best to get along with the students there."

Nanami had given up eating the tofu and found herself unable to do more than listen. Her headache was almost gone. "So… you went to school after touring the city?..."

Weiss went on, "Correct, I felt that I should meet people my age. I'm afraid I didn't get along with many of the kids."

Nanami guessed why. Although it wasn't really worth saying why. Weiss was odd now, the people he was around probably normalized him somewhat. But guessing by how normal he was, they didn't normalize him very much, "Well… you were a new kid during the senior years of high school… and you're a bit odd…"

Weiss glanced up and gave a thoughtful smile, "I'll admit I'm a little unusual. However, I think being unusual in Shibuya is normal. I made a few friends, each with their own beliefs and dreams. I listened to every student I could."

Nanami kept asking, "Umm… you sound like you weren't concerned with the tests."

Weiss spoke as if he had never studied in his life, "I don't think the standardized tests matter. I believe all they really test is the tenacity of a human being, rather than intelligence. Either way they were easy enough." He sipped confidently. How many cups was he going to drink?

Nanami didn't feel that way at all, "I studied a lot in school… I had to if I wanted to go to college."

Weiss decided to tell her his thoughts on the education system, "Hmmm… but it's a cycle. It seems to me that the average teen is expected to behave like a worker ant. Do as they are told and obey the system. If they obey the system long enough, they get a diploma and go to college. After college they obey the system to get a job. It's funny... if people really got married when they're expected to... they'd never finish college. It didn't surprise me when I saw some kids in school wish to do something outside the system, perhaps they were too ambitious but… I admired them. Yet... they always seemed to feel shame and pride about being different. Perhaps they felt like they didn't have the time to go to college. Life is short after all. Some try to make their way without education like I did."

Nanami kept asking questions in a feeble attempt to get Weiss to make sense, "You would hang out with people who didn't want to be at school?"

Weiss confessed in a carefree manner, "I found them free spirits, more interesting. Of my peers, I came to find myself wondering if humans had borrowed the same philosophy of a hive. Work and work until you are able to work… seemed a tedious system… bees gathering nectar or ants gathering soil for a bed… we train our young by sitting at a desk… while there's honor in it... it ultimately benefits no one. Why not simply train them to do a job and they learn what they want to at their own time? Forced learning is the worst kind of learning, I think."

Nanami admitted her own opinion on the subject, "It's true that a degree doesn't help you much in the workforce, but it shows that you were committed to get there." She couldn't really comment too much, she didn't want her head to hurt again. And this was the easiest mission she was going to get.

Weiss smiled and continued his philosophy, "This is true. Perhaps I am not committed. I went to more than one school to meet students. I stayed in every school about three months. I met different types of people, not all were pleasant." Different schools? Oh well.

Nanami knew how students were, "Some kids aren't nice."

Weiss nodded and kept rambling on, "Some should not be allowed to exist. I found some students find pleasure in hurting other living things… humans… animals. I think the world might benefit most from their bitter end."

Nanami had to admit, "I can't say I like them either, but they're the minority."

Weiss kept going after a smirk, "Well I asked them if they had any real purpose in life. Often they'd give me a defiant answer. They'd say insults usually. But I really wanted to know… I believe they must have at least some purpose. Bullies can be simple fateless cowards, but that can't always be true. Still... I rarely found their purpose other than that they were a warning sign for others."

Nanami raised an eyebrow and rested her chin on her hand, "Deep." Weiss went on with his thoughts, "Humans who feed of the misery of others are no different than… for lack of a better example, Noise. They shouldn't exist, they need be erased. Shibuya suffers from people like this, but… I found that almost every human is competitive. Be it pride or simply constructive want… all humans wish to improve themselves. They often set goals based on their environment. In Shibuya, they tend to ignore that every person walking in the streets had their own life story and dreams. But in another sense… I feel I've become the same way. I've seen so much bad in people… enough to make me wonder why they exist. Everyone here is trained to ignore everyone around them and seek only to improve themselves… there's no end to ignorance. It's depressing really."

Nanami at this point wondered more and more about Weiss. The weirdness was reaching critical mass. He acted alien so many times. Now his backstory made him seem foreign. Who lives in a hotel and goes to school. Wait, he was a teen now, how old was he when the hotel was reserved? "Just… who are you?..."

Weiss would give a light smile, "I'm not really sure I know how to answer that, Nanami. Do you want me to stop talking about my experience in Shibuya? I'm only going over my observations..."

Nanami pressed him to continue, "No, keep going. It's interesting... at least to me."

Weiss gave a slow nod and sipped his coffee cup at this point he was almost finished, "During my third year in Shibuya I stopped attending all forms of school, private and public. I began to gather any information I could. Day after day I'd either use a computer or go to a library. I read and read. Fiction mostly… I felt there was something I needed to know."

Nanami asked him, "What did you want to know?"

Weiss sighed in thought, "Creeds… beliefs… I needed to know more… about myself and others… I read books and saw artworks. Cat seemed to have something interesting to say."

Nanami commented with both eyes toward at a 75 degree angle to the ceiling, "He's pretty popular."

Weiss began, "Although not many people can see it… Cat has an ability to place thoughts into his viewers. I could see what he was trying to say consciously yet not understand it. Others around me understood what he said unconsciously without effort, even without knowing there was a message at all. I could see messages no one else could… but understanding the message seemed to be beyond me."

Nanami paused feeling she was getting near the end of his story, "What happened after that?"

Weiss continued, "Well… I began looking for something. I'm not sure what… but there was something in Shibuya I was looking for. Day after day I would look in odd places. Abandoned buildings, attics or under bridges. I examined everywhere I hadn't been. It was somewhere in Shibuya though… I knew it."

Nanami asked him, "What were you looking for?"

Weiss would shake his head, "Not sure… even now I don't know… it was important… I remember going to Pork City… up the elevator… to the highest point in the city… The rest is a blur. Although it doesn't really matter what happened up there in the grand scheme of things. I'm here now and I'm playing this game." His story ended there, but there was more. There had to be. He felt as if he should stop talking before saying too much.

Hanekoma approached reaching into his pocket, "Here."

He put a strange pin on the table. Nanami asked the older man, "What's this?"

The café owner tried to explain, "Well… It's a pin."

Weiss looked at it as if he had an idea what it did, "I notice your craftsmanship."

Hanekoma pointed at them both, "I think it'll help you find what you're looking for. Ask your partner about her story."

Weiss thought that a wise idea, "An excellent suggestion. Nanami, what's your story in Shibuya?" The moment he asked she felt her headache.

There really wasn't much for her say, "Well my family owned a local flower shop outside of Shibuya. I had been a big fan of the works done by Darklit Entertainment. I admired their fashion, art… everything just connected with me. I applied for the job in secret. If my family knew that I was leaving for Shibuya… it'd break their hearts… They always hated the thought of me leaving."

Weiss asked, "They wanted you to stay with them and work at the flower shop… so they could keep in touch?" Weiss asked obvious questions, but he was observing her to the fine details. He noticed her headache.

Nanami gave a quick couple of nods, "I… I got the job."

Hanekoma paused and said as if fact, "You didn't take it."

Nanami could only frown and look at him as his eyes pierced into her soul. "I… didn't. I stayed with my family… I never told them that I even thought about leaving for Shibuya… I always wish I took the job… I never really left for Shibuya. I stayed and helped their shop. I decided to live a quiet life."

Hanekoma was silent and Weiss gave his chin a rub. He was thinking and Hanekoma must have noticed something she didn't. They caught something. There was some detail they knew she didn't and it was driving her nuts. Nanami asked them hoping to get a hint, "Is… is something wrong?"

Weiss responded, "It's best for you not to worry." He didn't seem to put even the slightest effort into explaining it to her.

Hanekoma gave the white haired boy a irritated look, "Kid… tell her what you think… it's important to be honest with your partner."

Weiss thought about that, "You're right. I suppose I should tell her what I'm thinking. Share views, right?" He took a bite of a bagel.

Nanami gave them both a confused look, "What?..."

Weiss told her while chewing, "You're story… it's not true."

Nanami was confused, "Pardon?" Her story? Not true? Weiss was the one that had an untrue story if either of them did. Living in a hotel since you were a child seemed ludicrous. He didn't mention his parents and it didn't sound like he even had a social life. Who the hell studies in a library for a year?! The whole thing was crazy! And here he was telling her something was untrue about HER life?

Weiss couldn't really explain fully, "You aren't the type to stay behind... you would have taken the job if you got the chance. Something's missing in your story… and mine for that matter."

Nanami was surprised he came out and said that. Actually, he was right. She probably would have taken the job. "Well… yeah… I'm in Shibuya… but I don't remember coming here. I do remember that I died here… but…" Then it dawned on what she was wearing. Professional attire. That's what she was in when she died. She was on the street outside when she died. Not as a tourist either. Then her head hurt so much she couldn't think about it. The less she thought about her past the less the headache pained her. Pain was stopping her from remembering. Pain flared every time she so much as thought about her past. It didn't hurt to tell Weiss about it. The flower shop memories didn't hurt. Just the one of her in Shibuya. The thought of being in Shibuya hurt her. She couldn't think of it.

Hanekoma began, "Trust your partner, you can't rely on yourself and your own memories."

His words seemed to cut her, "My own memories?"

Hanekoma shrugged and took the empty plates he said, "The world ends at your horizons… if you can't see it all you have to expand what you can see… you need to ask other people what they see sometimes. You won't do this alone."

Weiss looked at Hanekoma clearly offended by something he said or did, "Leave her alone… you're being unethical. I saw that." Something about what he said irritated Weiss.

Nanami had ignored what Weiss said, partly because it made no sense. Hanekoma sighed in defeat. "I understand… you're right."

Weiss gave Hanekoma a stern glance then a fake smile at Nanami. Hanekoma began to walk toward the kitchen as he spoke, "The world ends with you. You can't understand everything alone." Weiss was irritated again. Although Nanami couldn't see it Hanekoma was a master of Imprints. Weiss saw those imprints, those thoughts he was putting into her head. It was through speech, but there was more than just words. Hanekoma could put feelings into the soul. Nanami had no idea.

Weiss felt irritated by something Hanekoma did? What? What he was saying was good. Did he do something? She couldn't notice with her head hurting as much as it did.

More time passes.

It was quiet for a while, no words were exchanged. It got quieter when a third visitor entered the Wildkat café. "Coffee. Black." The man was intimidating, not from size or muscle, but raw resolve. He had combed black hair and blood red eyes that put fear into Nanami. The man wore a black suit with red undershirt and red socks. The buttons were red, the suit jacket and pants were black. The insides of his pockets were red. His cellphone was red, his glasses were black.

Hanekoma wasn't intimidated. He cleaned a drink glass. "Back again? Honestly, I think you're here more than me… no seriously. I think you are."

The man pulled out dark shades with red lenses and looked through it at Weiss and didn't seem to mind, but Nanami almost had a heart attack from fear. Pure panic struck her. That man had an aura of power. It was monstrous, she felt like she was going to die. She started to shake at the hands. The girl looked at the man like a deer at headlights.

The suited man asked, "Who is she?"

Hanekoma told his suited visitor, "Nanami, Weiss' girlfriend. She's on a diet and she talks a lot." Nanami was too terrified to protest. The terror didn't lower. It was like seeing something you should genuinely fear. Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes. But whatever you feel most, that's what it felt like when looking at the suited man.

Weiss didn't seem to feel anything. He gave a simple, light and casual wave at the suited visitor. "Hi Charon."

The black and red suited man didn't respond he took his coffee and had a seat. Hanekoma asked him, "Anything suspicious going on?"

The suited man did not respond; he kept looking at his phone. He drank his coffee hot. It should have burned. But he gulped it down and felt nothing. Hanekoma asked Weiss for the first time, "Oh yeah, what's the mission say?"

Nanami looked up wondering if she heard that right. She was jumpy, but trying to reassure herself that nothing was wrong. At least her headache was gone. Charon scared the headache away. "Mission? Charon?"

Hanekoma scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, you're both players right? What's your mission say? Unless it says sit around and have coffee… I don't think that you should be here…"

The suited man told Honekoma factually, "Rest and relax. You have two hours. Fail and hear the howl of erasure." The figure sipped his coffee as if everyone should have known. Hanekoma wasn't a player. Charon wasn't a player either. How did they know? Were they Reapers? Nanami hoped they weren't. Especially Charon. That man was terrifying. It wasn't as if he was doing anything that could be considered frightening.

Weiss smiled at that as Nanami couldn't help but shiver at the sight of the black and red suited man. Nanami didn't know what was scaring her about this man, but she hated his presence. HATED IT. "That's what our mission says. Also… Charon… I think you're scaring Nanami." Nanami couldn't help if it was noticeable but she was terrified by the sight of the red suited man looking at her. The young woman felt powerless for no reason, it didn't feel human. She did her best to hide her fear, but it showed. Charon quietly pulled out his phone and his eyes went from her to his phone. The man definitely didn't feel like he was from Shibuya or Earth.

Hanekoma said, "There's a reason for that, Weiss. He's a scary guy. It's his job to be scary. He does his job pretty well."

Damn right he did. Nanami had felt Okami and other Reapers. They were NOTHING. The aura this 'Charon' guy gave off was beyond comprehension. Nanami just wished she couldn't sense him.

Weiss dismissed that comment, "Well, it can't be his job to scare Nanami." Weiss was surprisingly ignorant of his aura. He didn't feel that fear? The fear of death? No, it started to make sense. If Weiss could stand being near something like Charon. If Charon came to the coffee shop as much as it sounded and Weiss came there every day. Weiss was used to it somehow. If he got used to this, it was easy to understand how he was used to people being erased. Used enough to get jaded to it and jaded enough to laugh when players were erased.

Nanami pleaed Weiss, "Can we go?... I'd… I'd rather be somewhere else."

Weiss gave an understanding smile at her and nodded, "I'm going to take Nanami to Darklit Entertainment. It'd be a good place to relax."

Hanekoma found that to be a capital idea, "Alright, but just as a warning… the Game Master this week has never had a player survive day six. He also has a habit of making easy missions hard."

Nanami almost didn't want to go outside, but she couldn't stand the suited man, Charon. At the moment she didn't care about the mission at all. She just wanted to get away from him. Something about him scared her beyond reason. "I'm sorry." She said to Weiss unable to explain why she had to leave.

"It's alright Nanami. Despite what the mission says. I don't think we should be foolish. The mission said to relax and if you can't do that. You're going to fail the mission." They got up to leave and Charon kept looking away. Apparently whatever aura he was giving off was being suppressed. It looked like it took conscious effort to hold back his power. But it was like flexing several muscles. He had to think about it to hold back.

Hanekoma agreed, "That's the mission, but if you want to go somewhere safe. A reaper can't get you in a store. They won't attack your or send noise against you. If they do come straight here."

Charon nodded at Weiss.

Weiss nodded back, "They'd be breaking the rules."

Hanekoma let out a light chuckle, "Well… They'd be stupid to do that here… It'd be like trying to rob a police station. I can count three reasons why a Reaper would never try it. Anyway, don't keep your girlfriend shaking. Keep your head up and live for the moment."

Nanami left first and Weiss followed.

Hanekoma wiped off their table and looked at Charon, "Try not to scare off the players. They can sense what you really are."

Charon held his disposable cup and it just set on fire. It didn't slowly burn, it just disintegrated with fire. He gave a playful smile and said in a deep dark voice, "Good." He was strong enough for his psych to effect the real world.

XXXX

Okami demanded to know, "Have the scents been tracked?"

The game master spoke to his favorite reaper, Joe Hawkeye. "Aye sir. The players are all right where we left em."

Okami smiled behind fanged teeth and went on with his plan, "All the players are in Catstreet. That was the goal of last mission… I have the prey cornered."

Kotori was not far away and read his mission. "For such a feral dog… you're extremely clever Okami. I underestimated your talent." Kotori didn't expect anything clever from a brute. But then it was best not to judge a book by its cover.

Okami took compliments carefully, "Dogs like to have a little fun with their food. No player will see this coming."

Joe Hawkeye gave the game master credit, "Okami's a genius, love. We put up barriers around most of the shops… I'm going to enjoy the shootout to come. In the land down under we have a wide assortment of Noise. Here... we get to see all the players fight. Different players... different talents... all part of cycle. It's our job to deal with these players in the land down under. Then send em WAY down under, if you catch my drift, bird."

Kotori explained her point of view, "However… As per agreement I placed limitations. Only one reaper may summon noise against the players. The other limitation is at least one shop must be open. Those are your limitations. Even so, I doubt many will survive. You could get them all in one fell swoop."

Okami didn't believe it. It was too simple. Those limitations were fair. Players had to have somewhere safe to hide and multiple Reapers would make this too easy. What else did she do? Joe seemed to like it, "Well... I'll be shootin den." He clicked his rifle and ignored the stare down Kotori and Okami had.

Kotori might as well tell him. "I also made one more change... but you'll need to figure it out in time." Maybe she was trying to make him paranoid, it didn't matter. He had players to erase.

Okami sniffed the air and exhale a pleased breath. His wolf happily barked as he gave the wolf a pet, "I smell fear… They do not believe what the mission says. The prey is paranoid… they run like scared rabbits from a pack of wolves… there's enough fear and paranoia to drive the prey mad. They'll fail their mission even if they don't come out of their little hole. The prey is cornered in this district the pack is ready to strike. Hawkeye! Ready our attack dogs. Devour all players."

Hawkeye put on a cowboy hat and said, "You give me honor, mate. I'll not let ya down."

Kotori looked at the district, there was no way to leave the district. She even helped make some of the walls extra sturdy. Support reapers blocked off all shops except one. Had she not made a condition, she guessed that there would be no safe place to hide and the week would have ended on day three. Even with her conditions, she could only guess that a few players would survive the day. "A game of cat and mouse." She commented.

Okami rephrased, "It's a game of wolves against cornered cats."

Kotori nodded and told him a saying, "An appropriate choice of words… but remember… a cornered cat becomes a lion." She'd leave it to Okami to learn its meaning.

XXX

Weiss examined the whole area and rubbed his chin as he pondered the situation. Nanami gasped at being away from Charon. Then she noticed that there were many more players in the district. "There's a lot of players here. How many are there?" Nanami said as she walked to a nearby player to ask him a few questions, "Excuse me, is there a way out of Catstreet?"

The player scowled at her, "That's what we're trying to find out… Most of the shops and buildings are blocked off."

Weiss asked him a fair question, "Has the area been scanned?"

Nanami wondered if that was a good idea. The player responded, "Most people aren't willing to look around… Probably a trap… They probably have some strong Noise hanging around… I'm not gonna find out."

Weiss asked him, "Are you certain that every way is blocked off? Every store? That'd be against the rules if they did that."

The player was certain there was no method of escape, "I don't get this mission… He locks us in here... no way to escape... what does he want us to do?"

Weiss asked him, "What's there to get? Relax and take a breather." That sounded simple, didn't it?

The player scoffed, "You honestly think that's the mission?! Remember the last mission? It seemed easy enough, but he placed a death trap where every player who went by had to deal with noise. He's up to something... If we do nothing we're gonna be erased! There's got to be some puzzle! Something we're missing!"

Weiss gave pause to the moment, "You're panicking… Relax."

The player couldn't do it, "Do what you want, I can't relax… not here… not now."

Weiss understood. Now it made sense. "So that's it… that's what makes the mission hard…"

Nanami asked him what he was getting onto, "You figured out the catch to the mission?"

Weiss seemed displeased, "There is no catch… you simply have to rest and relax. No one here is doing that."

Nanami didn't believe it, "That can't be all."

Weiss asked her, "If I told you to relax right now… or go to sleep… could you do it?"

Nanami paused a moment. "No… I don't think I could sleep or rest right now… I'm too worried about a lot of things." He had a point. She felt that way and pretty much all the players did. Who didn't? Holy crap! None of them were resting or relaxing. They were going to lose unless someone did. They needed someone who had no sense of danger. Someone who could rest and relax even if there were a noise attack. Weiss. It looked like Weiss being a psychopath might actually come in handy.

Weiss would cross his arms and took a look around him, "No one will… especially if a reaper unleashed noise… Come, we need to get back into Wildkat." Weiss said this with some urgency.

As Nanami looked at the spot she died, she wondered how this would turn out. "Alright… If a reaper can't get us there… that'd be the best place to be." It may well have been the only safe spot in the district.

Weiss and Nanami entered the café for the second time that day. Hanekoma seemed to be busy with customers now. Nanami complained, "The way out is blocked off."

Weiss said as he guessed a number players entered the café at this point. Hanekoma worked on multiple tables and kept a conversation, "I heard… Is your girlfriend feeling better?"

Nanami noticed Charon, that suited man, was gone and let out a sigh of relief. Hanekoma told her, "Charon decided to leave, he was scaring players out of the only safe spot in the mission. It seemed like an unnecessary interference."

Weiss looked at all the players in the café, every single one of them was a nervous wreck. Even without Charon there, they were afraid. They couldn't settle down. This was entirely up to him. He was the only one who met the conditions so far. He took a seat and shut his eyes.

Even Nanami couldn't shake the feeling of trouble looming. "Guess it's up to you."

Weiss would have to be the one to remain calm. He might be the only player who could. "I'll wait here until the time is up. We'll win if I do."

Hanekoma sighed at the players around him, "Weiss… it's a good thing you're in this game… or this mission might have actually done the trick. You won't scare easily." He kept taking orders for what they were worth. Trying to get players a good last meal was important to him.

A short time passed. Then all hell broke loose.

The noise had come, attacking in all their glory. Joe Hawkeye began firing his sniper rifle and doing his best to pick off any players he could see. Kangaroo noise began to be summoned one after another. He could summon as many of those kangaroo noise as he wanted. It took energy, but he could handle this mission just fine. He pointed that rifle at players. Then use it as a focus point for his noise. He could summon noise with a gunshot. With every summon a gunshot rang out throughout the area. He wasn't satisfied with the players before him. They were weak. Even if he could send noise at them near instantly. Being taking out with a single noise strike was pathetic. "I got a special noise for ya, mates. Come out of that shop and let's if you can fight a real reaper from in the land down under."

He could see Nanami inside the store, but aimed his gun at someone heading for the coffee shop door. "We're in the Underground now, little girl. Ain't much a bird like you can do against a reaper..."

Nanami could hear the scream outside and the tension rose Players felt like jumping out of their seats. Some were afraid to head to the door and some players rushed to a window to watch. Nanami gave a look outside to see a kangaroo noise slam down on a player heading for Wildcat café and then kick him away from the door. Nanami went to open the café door and a hand pushed it shut, it was Weiss. His expression remaining calm. "Leave them… They aren't your concern. I told you, you'd have to let it go. There's only going to be two to four at the end. If you go out there, you'll die. It's a trap. Stay in here and remain calm."

Nanami whined, "We need to help them!"

Weiss knew she wouldn't get it, "Don't let yourself get erased too, your life is just as valuable than theirs. You need to remain calm, let bygones be bygones. Stay calm."

Nanami felt like yelling at him, so she did, "No it isn't! You keep saying how you wanted to see creeds from Shibuya! Listen to this one! There is NEVER a time where you should just let another human die! Stand back if you want, but I'm going to help him. You don't care about them at all! Even now you're watching players getting erased and it doesn't phase you! You're no different than the people you hate! Do you enjoy other people in pain?"

Weiss wanted to correct her, "No... bullies have no purpose. The people I hate are those reapers... That's why I can't let them win. Stay here and be safe. The players outside need not endanger you as well." The girl knew he was right, she really did. There was something screwed up about this whole situation. For the first time in a long time, Nanami started to cry. "No human should live a life where their only purpose is to be a warning sign for others. They don't deserve this... What did they do to earn this? Why should they live and not me?"

Weiss for the first time in a long time watch a girl cry. She wanted to help them, she had to help them. His hand went off the door to the shop and he paused, "I… I won't let you be erased…" Nanami couldn't stand idle and let players be erased, she pushed Weiss out of the way.

"I won't let them be erased! You can blame Shibuya if you want. You can say it's the way of the world... but I'll fight to my dying breath to save everyone I can! The world ends with you, right? Just because you want your their world to end doesn't I do. I'll share my world with others and become stronger. That's the nature of Shibuya..."

Nanami repeated words she heard long ago. Nanami muttered, "I'm not as strong now.. But... I still gotta try!"

Weiss watched from the window. The girl ran outside and pulled out her notebook using it to attack every noise she could find. Her heart was filled with righteous fury and the noise would feel it in the blows coming from her notepad.

Weiss didn't understand, the people that happened to create the noise were justly being destroyed by noise. That was justice. You made the noise so you were destroyed by them. Shibuya was competitive and he didn't understand why she was willing to fight to save people. They probably deserved their fate. All of them would have left her to die, so why did she have to sacrifice herself for them?

Then another player in the café told him, "We're going out too… she's not fighting alone. We're all in this game together…"

A player ran out and another player ran out. One after another courage filled everyone in the room as they would go outside to face the noise. "No one needs to be erased! "One said he left the café and another said, "You're lucky you have her as a partner."

Weiss before long was the only player standing in the café with a fierce gaze towards the floor. This was all unthinkable. A confused look was sent to Hanekoma and he gave Weiss a chuckle, "Shibuya can surprise you from time to time… you should learn from them and expand your horizons."

Weiss told Hanekoma, "Why is it… why is it she didn't even know you used an imprint on her… and yet… she understood it."

Hanekoma smiled, "She understood because she wanted to. She wanted to see my view and to share my idea of the world. I used an imprint to help her see it… She's the one who chose to accept it. I was kinda hoping you might get it too one day."

When Weiss accused Hanekoma of doing something unethical, he was referring to an imprint. A message or thought that could put into someone's mind. Hanekoma was an expert at making them. As a Producer, that was part of his job. Weiss thought long enough before saying, "I can't help my partner…" He needed to stay there and rest, that's how he was going to save lives. Someone had to rest and relax and he was the only one who could do it.

Hanekoma told him before he left, "Weiss… they need your help more than you know. Don't give up on them." Weiss didn't know what he meant by that. "Give up on what?" Hanekoma smiled, "You can still change your mind about Shibuya..." Weiss shook his head and ran out. Hanekoma wasn't making sense.

Noise after noise Nanami found herself fighting more than one noise at a time. She attacked every noise she could. Her main target were noise that were attacking other players. It was up to her to help, "If humans can help one another... we should. This is our city and our lives."

She completed a picture and a noise was blown back before it could kick her with its strong legs. The tattooed monsters were numerous and most likely couldn't be beat by her, but she had to try even if Weiss wouldn't. Nanami was angry at him and she couldn't understand his logic. He always complained about other people not caring about one another, yet he was the one who cared the least. Nanami felt like she didn't need her partner, not for this. She would do it alone.

Joe Hawkeye smiled as he looked at her through a scope. "You're mine, love." He pulled the trigger and a powerful noise, the strongest noise there came to slam down on her with the sound of a gunshot. It was a kangaroo noise and it was on a higher tier than the other noise. "Looks like this bird lost her mate… sorry love… nothing personal."

The boss noise kangaroo slammed down on her breaking the guard of her notebook and sent Nanami flying. She hit a brick wall and she opened her eyes to see the kangaroo jump in through air again. Not sure exactly what to do she looked around and readied herself. She couldn't see it anywhere. Then without warning it was right above her and slammed down again and left cracks when it hit the ground. Kangaroo were known to bounce. These ones just bounced really high. And when they wanted to land, they'd crush their opponent with the force of their fall. When it slammed on the ground it sent her flying into a barrier which sent a shock her like electricity. Walls were not meant to be touched and being flung into one hurt. She hit the floor groaning. Every jump created enough force to kill a player. Her guarding kept her alive this far. But that noise was too strong for her to fight alone and she knew it.

"Nanami… Get up." She heard Weiss' voice in her head and she rolled to the side. As the boss noise slammed down through the air, it was hit by a sonic ring. It went flying in some other direction and caught it's balance when it hit the floor. It failed to hit or finish her off.

"What took you so long?" She asked him unable to see him in his zone.

"I can't let you be erased… I won't let you be erased. We're partners... I could just make a pact with another person but... I won't let you be erased!" Weiss was surprisingly spirited at the moment.

Did he care about her? Why? Did she get through to him? How? She only knew him for three days and counting. Nanami drew line after line in her notepad as the Kangaroo flew at her, readying a kick. Each line she drew didn't even slow the beast down. Each slash wasn't enough she needed something stronger. She finally finished a picture of a house and the blast from her notepad stopped the monster. "What made you change your mind, I thought you had something to do in there."

Weiss could hear the resentment in her voice as he used a healing pin to heal her in the other zone. "I couldn't do it … I don't want you to be erased… Even if I lived by forming a pact with another… I wouldn't forgive myself… ever. I think... I think you're more than just another human. To me at least. You're worth being alive."

That's when she felt his emotion for the first time. He actually cared. CARED. There was no mistake she could feel it now. This was the first emotion he'd felt in battle since the days she knew him. Normally when he fought he tuned out all emotion. This time he used it and it upped their power. The fact he cared helped her sync with him for the first time. Syncing took two to work. Usually she was the only one with the emotions and Weiss used them. Now she was using his. He was scared now. Even if not for his life he was scared. She took that emotion and put it into a pen stroke. His power combined with hers. It was working.

"He hops from zone to zone. "Weiss said, "He'll head to my zone next… I'll need you to work with me."

Nanami asked him unsure of what he was planning, "To do what?"

Her partner responded, "We're going to try the fusion pin."

It was the pin Hanekoma gave them earlier. _I think it'll help you find what you're looking for. _

The boss Kangaroo noise was fighting Weiss now. Weiss was considerably more of a challenge to it. It had heavy hits and relied on hitting. Nanami could block, but Weiss could dodge. Nanami had an advantage against attacks you couldn't dodge. He was faster than Nanami, perhaps he didn't have as much defense. But he didn't need defense against this Kangaroo. Every time it tried to attack attack he'd nimbly dodge and then send bolts of energy into the chest of the monster. It tried a new tactic. It jumped and slammed down in a random spot, then it did it again and again. Again. Again again. Again again again. The noise just kept jumping and unpredictably stomping everywhere. It did it faster and faster until it'd be impossible to dodge. It got a good hit on Weiss.

"Feel the energy between us… use that energy… listen to your heart and unleash the power of your psych with both our soul put into it."

Weiss slashed his hand into the Noise and forced it still. The Noise may have hit him, but it was going to pay for it. He let loose a combo of shockwaves. The beast hopped out of his zone instead of trying to hit Weiss again. Then he called out to Nanami, "Finish it."

The girl finished her second picture. A sun. The notepad unleashed an attack which damaged the coming noise in her zone. "I can feel our pact getting stronger. Were we always this strong?" The notepad did it's job. The noise was almost finished. It was time to try something out.

She said as Weiss was pleased, "It's based more on our understanding of one another... Almost there Nanami… I'll activate the fusion pin. Keep building up your power. And..."

She closed her eyes. Her senses were open, the Kangaroo wasn't going anywhere. She was going to see just what this fusion pin did.

"Stay calm and focus your thoughts with mine."

Nanami was ready."Now!" Weiss could see her when he activated the fusion pin. His power infused with hers and her notepad was glowing. "We want to see the world." Weiss finished, "Not these guys." The notepad unleashed dozens of energy bolts in every direction finally letting out an explosion. Every noise in the area was erased. The fight was over.

"Survival of the fittest… how long has it been since I've seen such worthy prey?..."

Okami was there looking that them from atop a building. "You doomed your partner, girl. You lost the moment you went out there. Yes! You killed him! No one rested or relaxed! How could he with you running out and being in danger?! You managed to erase all the noise, sure. You even saved some lives... However, my mission still stands! None of you were able to rest and relax. You all shall hear the howl of erasure. Look at all of you… tired from the battle… weary from running from the pack… no player here is rested. You all fail the mission. Your time is almost up." Nanami realized just now Weiss saving her meant. If she had just been erased he could have picked another player from the shop. There was someone who was going to survive. Why did she go out there? She really shouldn't have left the building. Now the condition was failed. No one rested or relaxed. Not even Weiss. He went out to save her. But then she realized something. He gave up the mission to save her?

Weiss felt defeat, "How much time do we have left?" He didn't want to look.

Nanami looked at her hand. It wasn't long. She looked at Weiss for a long time, she felt guilty. Both of them were about to be erased. And why? Because he didn't just let her be erased. In a word: care. He showed cared.

Okami grinned at them all with pearly fangs, "So sad that all of you failed… If you have something to say to your fellow pack members I suggest you say it now… You lost!" Okami himself didn't get it. What little respect he had for Weiss was lost. "You came out of your den? Such foolish prey. Such weakness. Well you shall learn the result of letting feelings interfere. Cold logic is how this game is won. You've fed yourself to the jaws of demise. You fought with fang and claw. You fought with noble honor, but it's over."

Weiss didn't know if he regretted it. Was it really worth it? Did it matter? Ultimately he didn't save anyone.

Okami said to the players. "Howl to the moon… your end has come. Count your final seconds." He walked up to a defeated player and revealed the timer. Half a minute maybe. Okami's pet wolf appeared and stood glaring at the players. "Come Serenade, sing to these players in their final moments." The wolf let out a pretty little cry and waited next to it's master. He had done it, Okami won. Even with those limitations, he won. Kotori could choke and die. It was over.

Weiss shut both eyes. He couldn't look; they had about twelve seconds left. "I'm… sorry Nanami…"

The girl looked at the timer and wanted to tell him the truth, they did the right thing, but sometimes the world didn't work out. "Weiss… thank you… thank you for helping…"

Weiss tried he best to keep the final moments happy, "Thank you for putting up with me Nanami."

In the moments before a human thinks they're going to die, they do and say shocking things. Seconds left to live. The girl came up to him as the timer reached his end, "And before this game ends… before you think I hate you…" Nanami kissed Weiss as the last two ticks on their hand would go off. It wasn't a passionate one, it was a thank you. It was a reminder that she was a girl and it was her right to give those out. And the look on his face was priceless. Complete shock. The timer ticked to it's end and they waited for theirs. Okami beat them fair and square.

End Day 3: Learn from Me

**Question of the Chapter**: Does Joshua seem gay to you? Bear in mind I'm not talking about the AU Joshua. I wonder if the real Joshua is gay. What do you think? Is he just doing that to mess with Neku? Is he really gay? Can the Composer even have a sexual preference?

Author's notes: After a hard day of editing I think the story can safely shine again. The chapter was full of errors and it wasn't the quickest fix, but all is well. I think the chapter will be far better enjoyed now. I'm moving on to the next chapters. Please don't hesitate to comment of send me your thoughts on the story. Sorry it took so long to actually edit the first 3 chapters, but I've been hacking at the story with my editing chainsaw. So far it's working int he story's favor. It's much cleaner than it was. Eventually I'll get to the spots that need it the most. And comment... comment. COMMENT! You should always comment for the fanfic writers! Did you just read someone else's story?! Comment there too! A comment is the closest thing to a thank you we get. .

0er0 out


	4. Week One, Day Four: Speak to Me

Author's Notes: Another thank you and welcome to the next chapter. I'm in the process of editing still and if anyone is reading this for the first time I can tell you you're in for a nice long treat. The whole story has purpose and yes, these original characters play some plot importance to the main arc. I took some creative liberties with the previous characters and think that six years after the first game seemed to make everything new enough to be new, yet still inspire nostalgia for the original game. I wanted the weeks to thematically feel the same as the original game. The first week being something of an introduction to the game and plenty of explanation for the inner workings of the game. My excuse for explanation is Nanami and my excuse for flashbacks is Weiss. I believe it's necessary to explain/ remind readers of the original story and pray read on. I think you've just about reached the point where all the new characters have been introduced and it's high time to start meeting some old friends. In person. : )

PS: Comment like crazy.

XXXXXX

Flashback to day two real quick.

The boy was lucky. His partner was strong, even if the blue haired bastard didn't seem very motivated. "Let's go!"

The partner had blue colored everything: hair, eyes, clothes, trinkets and even his aura was blue. You could sense this depressed outlook on life and this irritation that could only be colored blue. "Quit hurrying… there's no time limit…"

This guy was driving him nuts. He wasn't even putting the slightest amount of effort into the mission. "Then why not finish early? I don't get you man. We're partners. We should be working together a little bit."

The blue haired partner didn't answer the boy with tact, "We don't work together. I'm not your damned partner. Never was… You made a pact with me by chance… I don't need you…"

The boy walked passed the record store toward Catstreet. "You can't do anything alone! You can't fight without a partner, man. Humans need other people to survive. The same is true in this game." T

The blue haired kid grabbed the other boy by the jacket stopping him from walking further, "Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to survive? Heaven or hell! I'll take either one over this game! If you're ready to die... then you can call yourself my partner. As for my name, it's Thanatos."

What was with this blue haired jerk. He was an ass. No one wanted to die and no one wanted to lose this game. He needed to remember that, "Well I am your partner and we are going to survive. We all want to exist."

The boy didn't notice that there was a little noise symbol floating toward him. There was a Reaper nearby and he was about to sick Noise on the unsuspecting moron. Captain blue didn't seem to even warn his partner, whatever happened happened. Well, maybe just one warning. "Keep your eyes open or you're going to die… and I won't save you…"

The other boy looked at his blue haired partner as a noise seal sat right under him, "Save me? From what? Noise? Reapers? What? Do you think I'm not ready for this game?"

The blue haired partner let loose a grin at him with both hands in his blue jean pockets, "Your ignorance damns you… die in peace. And... no you're not."

The boy was erased by noise summoned by the sniper above the record store. A bird shot up from the symbol and swiped the pins he held; then another bird shot out the symbol as yet another gunshot went off. The two birds attacked the boy and erased him, now all that was left was his partner. He didn't matter anyway. Thanatos didn't think so anyway.

Thanatos wore a button downed shirt, an unbuttoned button down shirt. Something about that seemed amusing. Around his neck was a silver necklace, and around his jeans was a silver belt, he was about, perhaps 24 years of age and by the look on his face he'd be willing to commit murder or suicide. He looked up and smiled at a sniper above the record store. "Nice… summoning noise right below players… not against the rules either." He was bold for a player who just lost his partner. He had minutes left to live.

Joe Hawkeye heard the blue haired player and answered, "I got your partner, mate. You can't fight without your partner… also won't be long till you're erased. But thanks for the compliment, it's all too rare to get a kind word these days. I wish you the very best after life."

The blue haired player wore a confident smile and opened his hand as a bright blue bear appeared in front of him. It looked something like a noise, but it couldn't be. The blue haired male wasn't a reaper. He was a genuine player and Hawkeye knew it.

"That looks like one of the grizzly noise… what is it?"

Thanatos held his grin as he told Hawkeye, "It's my psych… And the reason it looks like a noise was because it was one… It's just a pin in my hand now… In the end... noise are just a psych to be used! Like humans!" The player made a striking motion and the bear mimicked. That bear was as fast as it's owner, which was pretty damn fast.

To Hawkeye, it sounded like he had the power of a reaper, "You're dead anyway, mate. You got a few minutes left… I can tell those bird noise are no match for you… No need to summon a flock of em."

The blue haired player kept fighting and making quick work of those Noise, "You're pretty observant for a reaper… I can erase your noise and reapers without much effort… Doesn't mean anything though… this game… Shibuya. Nothing matters… Fate should be accepted. I've accepted mine. You'd best accept yours."

The two bird noise were erased in an instant by the blue haired player's psych. He controlled the bear with a pin and that's how he did it. Some noise left pins behind, this guy could use those pins to make some sort of modified Noise. The bird noise could only take a few swipes before vanishing. The blue haired player continued on to Catstreet. The mission was clear. Sadly it had been before he got there. He was in no hurry, though. There was a nearby clothing store, he could probably find a place to nap there. It wouldn't be long until he slept. Into the Jupiter the Monkey store and the shopkeeper gave a silent nod at him as he walked into the upstairs area of the store. There were no Reaper symbols upstairs or places to shop, so no one could bother him. He lay down on the floor until he passed out.

Flash forward a day in time.

XXXX

"I've played this game for far too long… Let me go gravity... just let me float away somewhere." The boredom set in.

He was depressed all over again. To him the ceiling was colored gray, what did it matter what color it was supposed to be? Depressed and lazy eyes never really cared much for color. As the mission mail was received the eyes turned to his phone. "Another one… Rest and relax?... Sure…"

Thanatos hit the button on the phone as he rolled over to continue sleeping. That's all he did anymore, sleep. This was just another day and another game. The blue eyed male lazily closed his eyes; missions meant nothing, partners, reapers, the game, it all meant nothing. That's all there was around him, nothing. He slept soundly despite the ruckus outside. He got up after who knows how long. He could have looked at the time on his phone, but it didn't matter. He walked up to the door of the shop and reached for the knob. He was shocked by a barrier and he flung his hand away from the door.

"What's with this crap?" He examined.

He glanced around realizing they had put up a barrier outside the shop. He turned to see the shopkeeper, but the shop owner couldn't even see him now. The reaper seal that allowed shops to see players was gone.

"Interesting…" He was locked out of the mission. Normally a player would panic, but not this one. You couldn't make the boy panic or care. He wasn't a hero or a villain, just a man waiting to die. He'd go right back to the second floor of the store and passed out… again. It didn't matter what happened to the other players or the reapers, "It's their problem."

The player slept away and dreamed of nothing; he had nothing to dream of anymore. He awoke again when he noticed the timer on his hand had 6 seconds left. He got up and headed toward the door. His sleep pattern went to hell after being in the game for as long as he had. After looking at his hand he noticed the timer was up. He left the store after that. "Well… that was a successful third day mission…"

Outside it seemed lively enough. Aww, a couple was kissing. It was some cute black haired girl with some younger white haired kid. After a few seconds they opened their eyes and the girl pushed the white male away from her. Extremely embarrassed like she would never ordinarily do such a thing.

Okami was furious. "No… Why? Why are you still here?!" None should have passed, there wasn't anyone who met the criteria. What was going on here?!

Kotori had to giggle, "A player passed the mission." Oh she must have been SO proud of herself.

Okami turned around, looking for a single detail he missed. "No! No one passed! Where is the player?"

The blue haired player glanced around and walked up to join the rest of the group. Okami turned and snarl at him, "You! Where were you?"

The blue haired player gave him a confused look, "In the store... Are you stupid? You reapers locked me in there."

Okami barked with fury, "How did you get locked inside? You shouldn't have got past Hawkeye! You weren't reported!"

Joe Hawkeye saw the blue haired player and tell Okami, "I erased his partner yesterday… There's no way he formed another pact in time… Look he still don't ave a pardner!" He didn't. There were an odd number of players. Wait, how?! Every player had to have a partner or they'd be erased.

Kotori smiled at both of them, "Quite humorous…" Oh this was a much better scene than she predicted.

Okami pointed at her, it suddenly dawned on him. "You! You did this! You sabotaged my mission!"

Kotori stopped giggling, but kept on grinning, "You were the one who said put up the barriers around the stores… so I did… and as I promised they did not break. I believe you even inspected the barriers yourself. If you noticed something was wrong you should have said something then."

Okami punched the floor and every player slowly realized that they weren't going to be erased, "I didn't say that! I said to lock all the players out of the stores… He was supposed to fight! There should have been no one outside our barriers!"

Kotori could only give a feign apology, "Well… I must have missed him… my sincerest apologies." She did that on purpose. It was painfully obvious.

The woman was grinning ear to ear and Okami knew full well that woman wasn't capable of doing anything by accident. She did this to humilate him. To rob him of his victory. "Clever bitch..."

Joe Hawkeye had point out something about the blue haired player, "How did he survive? He should be erased without a padner."

Thanatos could only look around him and notice that apparently he was the only one who did the mission correctly. How'd that work? Usually he never completed missions. Now he was the center of attention, "You're kidding... Really? I'm the only one who did the mission..." After a scoff he had to say, "I don't need a partner for the same reason a reaper doesn't. Go ask your Composer why I'm here and he'll tell you."

Okami snarled and looked around him, "I could erase you easily… I will devour the soul within you… It'd be within my rights! You're cheating somehow!"

The blue haired player gave Okami an angry glare, "I'd like to see you try. You'd be erased before me, reaper."

Okami was enraged, he was clearly genuinely thinking of attacking the player. Okami's wolf noise appeared next to him and gave a whimper. The game proxy paused, his pet wolf being the only thing to calm him down "I've got your scent… I'll have the dogs of hell hunt you down… Don't expect to make it through the week."

The blue haired player openly laughed at Okami, "That's rich! Well I wish you a very good hunt and the best of luck with that." He walked away with a devil smirk.

The player genuinely was making Okami angry. Okami might lose it there in a second. He'd show everyone just how powerful an officer class Reaper was.

Kotori warned him, "Don't attack a player, Okami. Wait until day seven. Then and only then can you attack."

She was hoping he would attack. If he did, he'd answer to the Conductor. Okami was strong, but he wasn't a match for the Conductor.

He glared at Kotori and he told her, "You robbed me of my victory… Unforgivable… You call yourself a reaper?..." Okami was clearly angry and then he let a grin out, "Make no mistake, Kotori… I'll delete them all… no matter how you try and save them… Take a good look at them… None of them will survive day six… no one has."

Kotori stopped smiling at him, "Take care what you say… I will place limitations to make the game possible…"

Okami growled, "I should erase you too, bitch…" He said using the last word in context He was getting brave enough to kill her right about now. Okami turned and pointed at the players, "It's a dog eat dog world! Only the strong survive! In my eyes you're all weak! Fit only to be nutrients to the strong! I hate Shibuya… I hate you players… I'll have it my way… and I'll erase you all!" Okami let out a howl.

Hanekoma stepped out of the café, "Hey!" Okami was getting really rowdy outside. He had about enough of it.

Okami snarled at him too, "Don't test my aggression… I really do feel like erasing everyone here…"

Hanekoma had his hands in his pockets and told the game proxy, "One mission per day… Your mission's done. Start walking."

Okami just kept barking, "And just what makes you the alpha dog?"

Hanekoma kept a straight face. The expression was that of complete authority. "Start walking."

After silence Okami turned and walked away. "Serenade, come." His pet wolf noise followed him and one by one the reapers left and Hanekoma stood where he was. "Well that takes care of that." He looked at Weiss and Nanami, "You did the right thing Weiss… Compassion is never a weakness. Remember that."

The players were passing out, they completed their mission. Day four was coming. They passed the halfway point.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Day 4

Nanami woke up with a groan. Her head was hurting and she had the feeling something was wrong, "Where's Weiss?" They really didn't talk after that whole kiss thing. But she didn't really want to talk about it. It was too sudden, she'd never kissed a boy that fast. It had been three days and she hoped he didn't get any strange ideas. But then, he was a strange guy. It's normal for strange guys to have strange ideas.

She got up and looked to see him returning with two cups of coffee. "Good morning." He said with morning cheer.

Nanami sent a wave wave, "Hey."

Weiss handed her a cup and then sat down, "My such a beautiful day in Shibuya. Is your head still hurting?"

The girl nodded at him, "It's not that bad." She lied. "Thank you for helping yesterday."

Weiss paused and said, "Well… everything worked out. I'm still not entirely sure how…"

Weiss began to wonder, but Nanami stopped him, "Does it matter?"

Weiss felt like sighing, "No, I suppose not. The mission should be arriving any time now." It was odd, Nanami had a lot she wanted to talk about. But didn't. It might have been her head. Well she could skim over them maybe? "So many things that happened yesterday, the suited man, the blue haired player and…-"

Weiss would guess at the last one. He had a victorious smirk. "The kiss?"

Nanami blushed until her face was red with irritation. "Well… I thought we were going to be erased and…"

Weiss sat down next to her, "Think nothing of it, I think you're a natural kisser?"

The girl kept turning redder and found herself at a loss of words, "I… Well…-"

Weiss looked at the sun overlooking Shibuya, "Look around you… the world is beautiful. Humans were meant to enjoy moments like these… and moments like those. There is nothing to be ashamed of Nanami. It's a woman's right to give kisses away at her digression."

Nanami paused and eventually said say, "It's not shame, Weiss." It totally was. "I'm just not used to situations like this… awkward ones. I avoid them whenever I can…"

Weiss sipped his coffee, "Perfectly understandable. But feel free to kiss me again whenever you wish. I'd like to be more prepared next time." The girl blushed and looked at the ground. She couldn't blame him for teasing, she earned it.

Both of their phones vibrated they grabbed their phone and look at the screen. "Yet another interesting mission…" When were the missions ever simple?

Weiss said glancing at it. He hoped that this one would be less difficult. Nanami looked at the screen and asked him, "Any idea what it means?"

Weiss could guess, "They probably expect us to find out the hard way."

The girl had to nod, "I guess they do… Well… let's get on it."

**Week 1 Day 4: Speak to Me**

_Find WATER. No time limit. Fail and be devoured.__ –_**The Reapers**

"Where to?" Weiss asked Nanami.

"Umm… Why are you asking me where to go?"

Weiss chuckled, "I figured since we don't know where to go, starting anywhere is fine. Anywhere you want to head to?"

The girl tried to think a moment, "Well… Nothing I can think of. I'm just as clueless as you, Weiss."

Weiss had a thought, "Perhaps we should examine the river. There's plenty of water there."

Nanami got another idea, "Well… wait, Pork City."

Weiss cocked his head, but kept his smile and eyes shut, "Odd request…"

Nanami responded with an explanation, "Well… other players will probably check the river. We should go somewhere they aren't going. Pork City is as good as any other spot."

Weiss was as suspicious as anyone should be, "Hmmm… any particular reason why you want to head there?"

He smiled hoping the girl planned to give him a hint of some kind. Nanami in fact did, "Well… I just want to see what's on top.."

Weiss guessed, "You want to go there because of me? That's where I went before I died."

Nanami had to wave her hands, "No!... Yes!... Kinda… You said you remembered going to the top floor yesterday and it got me curious… maybe you'll remember something about how you died."

Weiss could only ask, "Does it really bother you? I really don't know how I died and if I don't remember how… there may be no explanation. But do you still want to go? There may be consequences."

Nanami slowly noded, "I want to see whatever you saw…"

Weiss let out a light sigh, "There could be harm in checking what was up there. But… I suppose we could head up there. Lead the way, Nanami."

A long walk. A really long walk.

They could be searching for whatever the Reapers meant by 'WATER'. Okami was surprisingly crafty for someone obsessed with dogs and wolves. One would think of him more of upfront fighter. Weiss walked next to Nanami silently as the sounds of Shibuya washed over them, to them the people walked by unknowing of the dead. The people, the cars, the wind, the sound of commercials and it was all at once. Weiss didn't have to guess why this place was so full of noise.

Still, Pork City made this place a joke. One scan in Pork City and it'd be the last thing you ever did. Noise were EVERYWHERE. That might be what killed him. He didn't know, Nanami went there unsure of how dangerous it really was, it was where the noise gathered. It looked like she got second thoughts after getting a good look at that tower. "I had no idea."

Nanami wanted to go up there. So be it. Weiss couldn't argue, perhaps there was something in his nature that was preventing him from wanting to know his death. There had to be a reason he didn't want to know, Nanami knew that. If he didn't want to find out, she would.

Weiss was saying unnerving things. Maybe to dissuade her from looking. "Nanami… I should let you know… whatever you see on top of Pork City… don't let it break you."

What the hell should that mean? She gave a demanding look at him, "What's up there? What could break me?"

Weiss told her, "Whatever was up there… it could have been something that made me forget portions of my life… You should be careful. The mind blocks out memories of painful events or near death experiences."

Nanami understood a little, her mind was blocking out her death. It was painful. Part of her wouldn't want to see it again. That's what Weiss could be looking at. "Don't say stupid stuff like that again."

Weiss sigh and remove the smile, "Alright, I won't." He was being a total pushover about this.

On their way nto the tower waited Uzuki and Kariya. "Just the players I wanted to see." Kariya began.

"Where you heading?" Uzuki had her arms crossed and seemed to be staying quiet. Kariya was up to something, no doubt.

Nanami wondered what they wanted, "Reapers?..."

Weiss spoke to the reapers first, "We're looking around for something called, 'WATER'."

Kariya smiled and gave his lollipop a twirl around his fingers, "Doesn't seem like you're looking for it. You won't find it here."

Nanami had to ask them, "What do you want from us?"

Kariya smiled and pointed his lolipop at Nanami, "I love a girl who gets to the point, listen… I got a deal for ya. You help us… we help you…" Nanami didn't like where they were going with this.

Weiss wore smile and closed eyes while saying, "Alright, we'll listen to any deals you have." He didn't even give it a second thought. He was going to hear them out. Weiss _would _be the type of guy who smiled and while talking to Satan.

Kariya motioned for Uzuki to tell the players, "Well… It's gross… but we've been told not to attack any players this game. Okami wants all the points for himself."

Nanami wondered what that had to do with them, "We don't really like Okami either." She confessed.

Kariya gave a conventional smile and nod, "That… is… Exactly… what I wanted to hear. He's game proxy this game. If he deletes you all… he'll be game proxy again. Meaning he'll probably hog points all over again. We think this is unfair."

Uzuki wanted to shout, "And it sickens me to think that he's game proxy! He's probably doing illegal stuff! There's no way you can erase so many players that fast! He's a cheating bastard who's stealing my promotions!" Oh she was a hothead.

Weiss smiled in the direction of Uzuki, "Well she's lively."

Kariya had to say, "Young reapers are. But anyway, we want Okami gone… permanently."

Weiss was catching on. "And you want us to do it?"

Nanami didn't like where this was going, "Wait… they want us to fight Okami?"

Kariya put the lollipop in his mouth and a lump was visible on the side of his mouth. "So… You think you might be interested in that?"

Nanami was about to disagree, Okami was strong and it would make more sense to avoid the game proxy than to look for him. Of course they wouldn't agree to something that stupid.

"We'll erase him for you." Weiss said with both eyes happily shut. "Any way you can help? We need to defeat the game master on day 7 anyway."

Kariya grinned and got what he came for, "Sure sure… Take one of these." Kariya gave Weiss a phone with a reaper skull on it. "It's a reaper's phone. It shows you what all the support reapers know. What walls to put up, where they think the mission objective is… everything. Most importantly… I'll use it to contact you. We need you nice and healthy to kill Okami. Plus I just like screwing him over."

Weiss put the phone in his pocket, "Thank you for your help, Reapers. I suppose you want to keep this meeting secret?"

Kariya began to walk away with a shrug, "Meeting? We never met. I don't know what you're referring to."

Uzuki glared at them, "Tell anyone we helped you and I'll kill you. No really! I will get a gun and find you! Even if you do win the game!"

Kariya dragged her away, "Down girl." Eventually she stopped resisting and they both vanished. The reapers were gone.

"Well now we know where we're headed." Weiss said with a smile. Nanami shook her head, "How can you trust them? They're reapers."

Weiss didn't think too long on that, "The very same reason you trust anyone you don't know…" He tapped the phone and pulled out a map of Shibuya. Then showed it to Nanami, "We have common interests." There was a blinking dot of every reaper with one of those phones. "We can track where all the active reapers are… and…" He tapped a few more times and showed her, "The mission objective is… here? Whatever we're looking for is right here."

Nanami cocked her head and squinted, "WATER? In a hospital?"

Weiss looked at it too. Yeah that was a little weird. Although with no time limit, part of the game might have been figuring out what WATER was supposed to be. "Apparently… but we don't have any other leads; we may as well check there."

Nanami felt like this was cheating, "I really don't know… what if they're trying to trick us?"

Weiss thought about that, "Possible… but it's more likely they were being honest. Okami doesn't seem to be loved by the other reapers. I think they genuinely want him to fail." Nanami let out a defeated sigh, "Alright. We'll use this little tool to help us… for now."

XXXX

"How did it go?" Kotori asked. Of course she was the one orchestrating this. She would be the one getting reapers to double cross one another.

Uzuki let out a happy giggle, "Like a charm."

Kotori smiled at things going according to plan, "Okami needs to be shown he is a fool… that failing to recognize the other reapers around him will result in him making bitter enemies. He should share points, I don't approve of children unwilling to share."

Kariya told her with lollipop in hand, "You really think those kids can do it? Erase Okami?"

Kotori responded with honesty, "We are still reapers, Kariya. If they are erased… even by Okami. Okami could even be weakened. If he were to fight those players, either they would erase him or I would erase him. I can't imagine the players could be at top shape after fighting Okami either. So you see if the players succeed or lose…"

Uzuki let out another giggle, "We still win. This is a win-win situtation for us. Easy, piece of cake, a sure thing!"

Kariya stopped her there, "Unless we got caught."

That stopped Uzuki from jumping for joy, "Ohh yeah…"

Kotori told them with both eyes shut, "I assure you… that if the cover is blown, you two will take full responsibility… but I will see to it that your punishment is light at worst. Okami's absence in future games should more than make up for any losses you may have. I myself would probably suffer a demotion or something. Hardly matters. The Conductor dare not erase the two of you. You're valuable. As am I."

Kariya liked the idea, "But we won't get caught. You intend to bury the evidence, don't you? We all have reasons not to talk and you're going to erase anyone who doesn't." That meant Weiss and Nanami were going to be erased right after they dealt with Okami. Erased players don't talk to Conductors or Composers.

Kotori had to grin a moment and change the subject, "That phone you gave them will lead them wherever we want them to go… We'll need them to make certain to avoid other reapers until the evidence is gone." Uzuki got back on the previous subject, "Dibs on the girl!"

XXXXX

Elsewhere

XXXXX

"We came as soon as we could!" A pair of voices said at the same time. Both female, both attractive. In their twenties and wearing very fashionable clothing. Although 'fashionable' in Shibuya might mean stepping on a landmine in a clothing store.

A blonde lady who was a little younger than them seemed surprised they arrived so quickly."Shiki? Eri? You both came?" There was gratitude at the proof they cared enough to come see her. She sat in a hospital bed, wearing nothing but that dreadful hospital getup. Hospitals weren't known for their taste in clothing. They were places to get better. It was a miracle that the blonde turned out as well as she did.

"You got hit by a car, Rhyme… Of course we came." The brunette said. Upon closer inspection it was Shiki. In the first game Shiki mostly walked around in Eri's body. Eri was the 'pretty' one back in the day. Eri still wasn't bad looking, but Shiki's confidence changed a lot. Shiki wore her own sense of fashion and her brown hair was a little longer now. It was styled now instead of simplistic. Her look worked for her and Mr. Mew was always accompanying her. Although her Mr. Mew design could be seen all over the place, she had the original plush doll. There were Mr. Mew keychains, dolls of different sizes, hats and even Mr. Mew bags/ purses. Shiki didn't wear hats, her clothing was more professional. Her glasses was an accessory for intelligence. She made sure to wear glasses that she thought was cute. Shiki had grown in six years although she was still a tiny even for a girl. Luckily for her guys tended to like tiny girls.

Eri on the other hand wasn't tiny. She looked more like a model. She had the curves of a model and she dressed like a model. Her job was a clothing designer, so you could often see her wearing some of her own designs. So essentially she WAS a model. Shiki was the real brains of the organization and usually was the ying to her yang. Shiki and Eri were best friends. They did everything together and six years ago Shiki really started coming out of her shell. Whatever happened six years ago really made Shiki turn a new leaf. It might have been Neku? Well regardless of what changed her, Eri welcomed it. Shiki wasn't living in her shadow anymore. Shiki was her own person and proud of it. Almost made Eri jealous. "We left work the moment we found out, are you alright?"

Rhyme actually worked at the same company, but at a different division. Rhyme was excellent at organizing and planning events. A master at those little details that makes or breaks. Rhyme unlike Shiki and Eri was dressed fully professionally. Her hair was much longer now. Rhyme wasn't as short as Shiki, but she was younger. She worked for a big company and growing her hair out was one of the first ways to seem older. She stopped wearing hats, she stopped wearing shorts and switched those kid shoes for high heels. Overall it suited her, but her brother liked the way she used to look. He liked to think of his little sister as little. But that was the thing, she wasn't little anymore. Rhyme didn't need to be reminded she was little, "Honestly I'm fine." She said softly. "The only thing I hurt was my ankle." That wasn't quite true.

She didn't mention that Beat took his newest skateboard design and threw it at her. Before you think it was out of hate, it was out of care. Rhyme was about to be hit by a car and Beat wasn't near enough to push her. At the time he was carrying a new skateboard design that took him weeks to make. When he saw Rhyme in danger he took that skateboard design and threw it at her. The board hit her in the back and caused her to fall out of the car's way. The car would have hit her fully if the skateboard hadn't. When the skateboard hit her she fell and the car broke her ankle. It would have done a lot worse. Even if she had survived, well she'd be in a coma. Poor Beat, he must have been so mad at her. Wasting his newest skateboard design. That car hit his skateboard and broke it. It was worthless now.

Eri took her sad look the wrong way, "Why isn't Beat here? Did he not know you got hit by a car?"

Rhyme did a sad smile, "He knows, he's just outside taking a breather. He's got a lot on his mind."

Eri questioned, "You almost got hit by a car, he should be in here with you."

Shiki touched her best friend on the shoulder, "Beat cares a lot about Rhyme. He probably needs to blow off some steam right about now."

Eri calmed down. Shiki was right. "I'm still surprised how many accidents have been happening lately. People have been driving worse and worse. People are even walking into the streets carelessly. This is getting to be a bigger problem."

Rhyme frowned, "The Noise. It's the Noise."

Eri knew about them, but not as much as the others in the room. "Have you been sensing more of them lately."

Rhyme could feel noise, ever sense the game she could feel when Noise were closeby, "I felt them in the driver. He had way above what a normal person could handle."

Shiki was like Rhyme, she could sense Noise. Not just Noise, but Players and Reapers. Beat couldn't sense them like she could. But Beat could hear Noise, Players and Reapers. If Shiki or any of the old gang used a player pin, they could see, hear and sense the Underground. "Were the Noise distracting you? Was that why you almost got hit?"

Rhyme didn't really answer, but it was probably true. "It was an accident. Beat saved me. He threw his skateboard design to knock me out of the way." For those of you who are wondering how that was physically possible. Beat's psych was a skateboard. Beat probably put so much spiritual power into that throw that it knocked Rhyme further than a normal throw.

Poor Rhyme, she felt terrible. Eri gave her a hug and asked Shiki, "Is Neku coming?"

Shiki frowned, "It's been hard to reach him ever since he got that new assistant. He doesn't know."

"Rhyme listen." Eri said, "Don't worry about that skateboard design, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you're OK."

Shiki kept glancing at the doorway, she felt someone was there. Although she didn't say anything. Players were nearby, there was one maybe two people watching. Shiki might have spoke to them if she weren't in a public place. That and there was a nurse coming in. An orange haired nurse who arrived to give Rhyme some pain killers. Shiki couldn't get a good look at the nurse. The nurse let them know the details, "I just finished the X-Ray and it looks like she'll be walking in a few days. Still it'd be best of you stay off it a few days to be sure. Sorry the X-Ray took so long to get. There's been a lot of accidents over the last couple of weeks." The nurse gave a little plastic cup with some pain killers in it. "Take some of these if your ankle hurts."

"Thank you." Rhyme said to the nurse. The nurse gave a warm little smile and left. She must have been working extra shifts. There wasn't much time for medical staff to give patients as much care as they'd like.

Weiss looked at Nanami, "WATER isn't here. But it's close. The marker's at the Shibuya hospital."

Nanami didn't know why, but she was almost crying seeing Rhyme like this. Her face didn't show it though, "Do you mind if I stay here a while?"

Weiss was surprised. He himself found this group interesting. They knew about Noise and they were catching on to one of the problems with Shibuya. The Noise were flooding the city. Only now was the real world starting to feel the effects. "You can stay here." Weiss said glad of it. Nanami was getting more and more headaches. It was getting to the point where she wasn't going to be of much use against the Noise. Staying here in the hospital she'd be safe. Weiss left in a hurry, WATER was moving. Whatever it was, it was moving. Weiss only wondered one thing about Nanami, "Why is it that she wants to stay with them?" It didn't matter, he had to move.

Outside.

"Ain't no way I'm repairing this in a few hours. Ain't no way." Beat sighed looking at a broken skateboard. He was wearing a professional suit to present his new skateboard. Not that it mattered now. He actually wore a suit pretty well. You could see him as a stock trader in that thing. People who walked by thought he was somebody important. Someone sophisticated.

"Screw dis!" He ripped off his suit jacket and threw it. He took off his nice white button down shirt to reveal a tanktop underneath. "This ain't me! That ain't ever gonna be me." He even threw away his nice shoes and took off those nice socks. He was barefoot, wearing a tanktop. He messed up his nicely combed hair. From the hospital shop downstairs he bought a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He desperately needed a smoke. Normally he didn't smoke, but today was crappy. It earned a cigarette.

Beat had had a rough day, one bad enough to make even him feel down. "No way… no way… I'm gonna do this in a few hours… but… I gotta present something…" It's not like that new prototype was all that good. I mean it sure didn't suck, but it wasn't nearly as kick ass as his first design. Rhyme would feel a lot better if he could just fix up the design a little. His best design was back when he saved Shibuya with Neku. The design he came up with was a ninja grinding across a giant snake. Now that was a kick ass design. The outline of Shibuya in the background made it only look better. That had inspiration. That fight with Kitaniji was inspiration. But he hadn't fought a Noise in forever. He just went to a skate shop to try to get that ruined design repaired. He ended up getting a fresh wooden board. He got a good board for the price, but he had to put a design on it and soon.

His well was dry. No designs coming to him.

That's when Weiss walked up behind him. Weiss was looking at his cell phone and almost didn't notice it was Beat until he got really close. When he saw Beat the memories came flooding in. Beat fighting Neku, Beat with reaper wings and Beat trying to save his sister. Back then Rhyme got erased and he became a reaper in an effort to bring her back. Weiss was shocked at the memories, this guy was the real deal. He was one of the heroes that saved Shibuya. Weiss felt a sense of respect, he didn't know where from. "Beat?" He didn't expect the skater to hear him. Living people couldn't hear ghosts.

Beat turned around and looked right at him, "Who said dat?"

Weiss felt his eyes widen. This guy heard him? "You can hear me?"

Beat took his fresh wooden board in his arm. He had a broken one next to it. He must have been thinking about putting the design from that one on to the blank one. The reason he picked up that blank board was because a skateboard was his psych. If he was talking to a reaper, he was ready for one. "If you a reaper I ain't go no time for your shit." Beat pulled out a player pin. If he focused and used that thing, he could even see Weiss. Probably even attack Noise. He focused and looked Weiss right in the eye, "You a player?"

Weiss was impressed, Beat was spiritually aware, "I am."

"Whatcha want?"

Weiss didn't quite know how to put it, "I'm actually here for a mission. It lead directly to you. The objective is 'Find WATER'."

Beat was a little surprised, "Well... I was naming the newest skate design WATER. All capitals for style. They talking about the new skateboard design. It's being released today."

Weiss smirked happily, "Well that's great, do you have it?"

Beat frowned, "Nah, it's broken. I need to make a new one. I only got a few hours to come up with an idea. I can show these guys a rush job, but I can't show them nothin."

Weiss offered, "Well can you just make one up? Any design should work right?"

Beat shook his head, "That ain't fair to my fans, man. I got a lot of people who love my stuff, yo. I can't give em dis crap. I want a real design. I don't know how to git one. My sister is ova dere. In that hospital." He pointed and Weiss turned.

Weiss already knew Rhyme was his sister, although he didn't know how exactly he could have learned that. "You're worried about her." Weiss stated factually.

"Hell yeah man, hard to think right."

Weiss looked at Beat differently. He squinted and focused. "Noise. Noise cloud your mind. If I get rid of the Noise within you, then you should be able to think clearly."

Beat tried scanning, but didn't sense any Noise. "I don't feel no noise here."

Weiss was about to try something. "Well... I can sense a very powerful Noise. It might be that you're not able to feel this Noise because it's hiding in your soul."

Beat was confused, "I ain't never heard ova noise in a soul."

Weiss walked towards him with player pin in hand. "Hold still, I can draw it out."

Beat ordinarily would have wondered what he just smoked. But this kid might know something. "Alright, I don't want no Noise in my soul man. Do what you gotta do."

Weiss held out a player pin. Then used it to touch Beat. The moment he touched Beat, there was a burst of psych that neither Beat never had seen before. It was like Weiss was using his own soul to push out Beat's. The end result wasn't painful, but Beat felt like his body was passing out. There was an explosion of white and then there was nothing. Beat looked around confused, "What the hell did that do?"

Weiss had to point behind him. His body was laying idly on the ground. "You can return if your soul touches your body." Weiss himself didn't have the faintest idea how he knew this. Actually Weiss never heard of anyone doing ANYTHING like that. Pushing a soul out of a body was... well unheard of.

"Whoa! Am I out of my body?! I ain't nevah seen this!"

Weiss confessed, "Neither have I." How come he knew to do that? Had he done it before? No, not that he could remember. He tried remembering anything that had to do with this, but ultimately got nothing. He couldn't even remember how he just did that. In fact he just now forgot. How did he do that? Did he do that? The memory just blurred. Disturbing. An action he committed seconds ago couldn't be remembered.

"You're a damned wizard man! Alright where's dis noise?"

They both looked around. There was no sign of any Noise. Quiet for a moment. Then they both looked at the floor. There was a giant noise symbol on the floor. At the exact same time they both jumped off the tattoo on the floor barely in time to avoid being bitten by a giant shark Noise.

It didn't dawn on Weiss immediately. But he didn't have his partner with him. He didn't expect a noise that powerful. This thing had been locked up inside Beat for a long time. Weiss was going to have a hard time, but he could manage. "Alright. I'll erase the Noise for you! Leave this to me."

Beat didn't leave it to him. Beat rushed the shark and hit it really really hard with a wooden skateboard. The amount of force in that hit was a sign of Beats soul. You would NEVER want to try to outmuscle Beat. His spiritual power was higher than any Reaper and even if he didn't have focus. He could put huge amounts of force into his psych. That shark felt it too. There was a huge imbalance in Beat's soul. The amount of power he used was inefficient. He couldn't let his power come out halfway, you got all or none of it.

Weiss didn't have nearly as much power as Beat, but he had more control and precision. He launched vorpal blades at the enemy noise and energy rings at the shark. The monster felt it, but it wasn't going down any time soon. Well actually it was going DOWN. But it wasn't out of the fight for sure. It dived into the concrete as if the concrete was water. Imagine the 'street shark' references you could make. That show was stupid though, if you watched it. You should feel shame (like the author).

Oh and if you want to turn on some music I suggest listening to the TWEWY soundtrack, particularly the song Transformation.

When it went into the concrete only it's fin could be seen. Beat let Weiss know how it was going to be, "I erase my own Noise, dammit!" He raced that skateboard to stylishly hit the Noise. There were skate boarding tricks you can't even name. Beat was shredding that board against that shark fin and he did skate tricks as naturally as throwing a punch. There were spins, kicks, slams and hell even a handstand/ full body kick. That skateboard must have been glued to his feet, because it did NOT come off.

Weiss was being outdone. He launched a volley of energy bolts, but it didn't look near as cool as what Beat was doing. It didn't do near as much damage as what Beat was doing. Weiss had distance, he had abilities he could use very close or very far away. Beat was only ever close. That shark must have figured it out. It started biting and it started biting a lot.

"Weak yo! This thing is weak!" Beat took a bite like a man. That thing couldn't have bitten very soft. It bit him twice, but it Weiss and Beat took advantage. Beat kept hitting it with his board and not barely hitting it. REALLY hitting it. Weiss used a full shockwave at the back of the shark Noise. It couldn't bite Weiss and it couldn't take shockwaves long. It dived.

Beat and Weiss moved before it bit again. Weiss sent ranged bolts at it and Beat just skated away. It started focusing on Weiss. Apparently it thought he'd be easier to kill. He wasn't. Where Beat took hits, Weiss avoided them. He hovered around and zipped around the shark. Sending blasts of attacks in a variety of ways. It looked familiar. Neku had a similar, but more forceful attack pattern. Beat saw it and didn't ignore the coincidence. That kid used psyches just like Neku did back then. Not during the final battle, of course. But back when Neku was starting out, he was about as strong as Weiss. "He's not going to notice you if you strike now, Beat." Weiss told him.

Beat heard. Then he did something new. Beat pointed an open palm at a light pole and a chain shot out of it. The chain stabbed into the light pole and made it easy for Beat to yank on it. When Beat yanked it gave him speed. He was on a skate board and he used that chain to pull to make him go faster. He shot out another chain and used it to change direction. He raced into the shark and let loose a legendary amount of ass kicking. "Feel the Beat!" There was lights and explosions. Every hit charged up his psych more and more. Beat could build up massive amounts of power very fast.

"Quit walking! Hit it for real, man!" Beat said.

Weiss was surprised at how much power Beat was launching at this thing. He didn't know how to hold back. Bar none, Beat could do more damage than any player that Weiss had ever heard of. Weiss came in close to shockwave and the Shark was nothing but a ragdoll. It was just taking hits. But Beat wanted to finish strong. "You know how to fusion?!"

Weiss nodded, "I can use a fusion pin."

"Use it!"

They used it.

The result was different than Nanami. This wasn't any sort of stage one fusion attack, this was Beat at his best. Weiss was just along for the ride. A tidal wave rose up from out of nowhere. It was Beat's soul power given form, an unstoppable tidal wave. It only went one direction. It didn't know how to stop and it was going to crash into something. Beat rose up with the tidal wave and so did Weiss. Weiss got a gold colored surf board and beat used his own skateboard to surf. That's when Beat noticed the most. This Weiss guy was really really similar to Neku. At least as far as psyches went. Their fusion move was the same. Beat could feel Weiss' soul energy. It was way different than Neku's. It felt very different, but when it came out they looked very close.

"Feel the Noise." Weiss began with glowing blue eyes.

Beat finished, "Break the Noise."

The tidal wave surged forward and washed across everything. It slammed down with enough force to utterly destroy all Noise it went against. It was definitely not normal water. Because normal water didn't erase a giant shark. The tsunami blasted the shark into obliteration.

It was over. "Kick ass." Beat said stylishly landing on this wooden board. "That was tits, bro." Must have been slang for 'gee, that was cool.'

Weiss wasn't familiar with slang, "Pardon if I don't get the expression. But I don't think you were talking about-"

Beat wrapped his arm around Weiss' neck, "That was killer! Tight! Awesome! Badass! Whatever the hell you call it. That's what the hell it is!"

Now before the noise was even destroyed Beat got a really good idea for the design. "Dude... a skeleton. A skeleton surfing on a street wave! Hell yeah! That's what I'm going to put on this damn board!"

Weiss was surprised killing the Noise went that well, "Well glad I could help. That was... tits?"

Beat frowned, "Nah that don't sound cool when you say it."

Weiss felt a sweatdrop. "Oh? Sorry."

Beat punched him in the shoulder, "I'm messin wid ya! It sounds cool when anybody says it. You helped me out man, big time."

Weiss smirked, "Well it looks like my mission will be solved today. If you got your idea, that means your project is complete. WATER is what you're calling this one?"

Beat chuckled, "Tell you what man, even if it was your mission, I owe ya. You come find me when you come out of this alive. I'll take you to the skate park and show you what a Darklit sponsored skater can do. I'm getting myself a skull mask to skate in! See ya! I gotta go tell my sister! I got this!"

Beat ran off before Weiss could respond. He was really excited. Really excited. Now the mission was over. Weiss had to head down to the hospital. But before he did, he noticed the shark left a pin behind. He took it and smirked. It was a healing pin. Well now it was time to find Nanami. Or it would have been if he hadn't started falling asleep. "Oh... no..." Weiss was passing out now that the mission was over. But he didn't even have time to get back to Nanami. This was bad. He started walking towards the hospital only to see a Reaper waiting for him at the door.

"Sorry mate. Fraid you can't see ya pardna. See I got a score to settle tommoruh. Sleep best ya can, I'll see ya when you wake."

This wasn't good.

XXXXX

Amnesia

watch?v=4lZWXzR1VW8&feature=related

Nanami stood staring at Rhyme. Unsure why her heart shook at the sight of an unknown person hurt. Unsure why her mind refused to acknowledge who she was. How her head began to spin, ache and pulse at denying that Nanami had never met her. Why couldn't she remember why she cared about Rhyme? They'd never met. So the girl could only ask herself again and again what was going on. Why did she want to be by Rhyme's side. Did she know Rhyme?

Nanami tried her best to remember her mother and her friends. She remembered resenting herself for never going to Shibuya, she remembered selling flowers day after day in a dull environment. Nanami recalled sitting and looking at the application online, she tried to submit with pain. But she wouldn't take the job. Even though she got it. How badly she wanted to leave her home and family but didn't. She always wished she did. Nanami regretted not taking it and wondered what her life would be like in Shibuya. This is what she wanted, she was there now. How could she have died in Shibuya and never been there? Why did the memory of her death seem stronger than every memory she ever had of her whole life? The memories felt empty and she didn't know why. Her head ached and the pain only grew as she began to reason with herself. "I died in Shibuya… I had to… I remember this place… somehow… I was here. I was here!" But the more she thought about it the more her head hurt. Nanami then grabbed her forehead as it began to scream in pain. Nanami let out a yell, but no one in the hospital could hear her. Nanami began to cry from the pain. It was unbearable, it was so bad she wanted to die, her headache might actually kill her. Was this a punishment? What was this pain?

"Calm down." She heard a soft feminine voice as she opened her eyes to see a purple eyed nurse. It was the same one that was looking over Rhyme. "You need to get away from here… you're causing yourself pain." The nurse pulled Nanami's arm over her shoulder and lift her up. Together Nanami and the nurse left the room. Nanami's eyes were watering from the pain in her head. "You're hurting yourself."

Nanami turned to look at the orange haired nurse and let out a low groan. The nurse explained, "Don't think of your past. Don't think of what you should have done. Think of the experiences you feel now. Think of home. Think of your mother. Think of her smile." Nanami's head began to loosen its grip over her body. "Think of home and the pain will fade. Don't think of Shibuya and don't think you belong here. There now, you're starting to feel better aren't you?" The nurse felt the girl's head and told her softly, "Your price cannot be given back to you… You can't try to obtain it… If you think of your memories you'll only experience pain. You can't remember them for a reason."

Nanami was being laid down in a hospital bed. She asked, "Was my price my memories?"

The orange haired nurse couldn't tell her, "Rest now… Please… don't think about your price… your head will feel better the less you think of them."

Nanami did so. She was losing consciousness. Everything was fading including her headache. That's when she realized something was wrong. That wasn't a normal nurse. It couldn't be. "Who are you? How can you see me?" A normal person couldn't see her... unless.

"Calm down." The orange haired nurse said.

The nurse frowned a moment. But not at Nanami, at whoever was behind her. Nanami was talking to a Reaper. That was a Reaper! "Get away." Nanami moaned, but couldn't really fight back. She just passed out.

"Please… get some rest." Nanami tried to lay down in a hospital bed as her head felt better and better by the moment.

The nurse looked at Nanami's phone. The mission was over. Behind the nurse stood Okami, "I'll take it from here." He said with a smile.

The nurse nodded a moment and told him, "Yes… now would be a good time to place the next mission properly. The condition has been set."

Okami asked her, "For now you should report the players who lasted this long to the leader of the pack. We need to fill him in on the next hunt for players. You're always telling me to count, this time you can do it."

Kotori showed agreement with a nod at Okami, "I did a count of the players before and after. I'll report to the Conductor about the next mission. We've already discussed the limitations."

Okami showed teeth with a snarl, "Every wolf must prove their worth to the pack, you only prove to be a hindrance. No matter! I'll erase them all "

Kotori got up and took off her nurse cap and started to walk away, "I only hinder those who need be hindered. You are no exception." Kotori went into the Underground as she walked. When she was invisible she grabbed her usual coat off the coat rack and lost her nurse uniform. She switched her costume in seconds into her normal outfit. Then it was immediately recognizable. "Let's put an end to this charade. Separate all the players and put them in different parts of the city."

XXX End Day 4XXXX

**Question of the Chapter:** This one is a little more detailed and I'd like to see just how much my readers have caught on to. This chapter's question is: What do you think Nanami's price is? I think I gave enough for you to make some educated guesses. No cheating!

Author's Notes: Well this chapter got changed up big time. Overall I'd say a good change. Honestly this whole editing process came up because I was re-reading this story and... well... Holy God! I wrote this?!

What pain meds was I on?! How many years ago was it?! Well whatever it was it's a lot better now and I still got a lot of fixing to do. So... in short... don't judge me. . Really don't. I'm sensitive.

Be sure to admire how pretty the new chapters look and comment. Yes comment. Do comment.

I COMMAND YOU TO COMMENT! ARGHLEBLARGLE BLEH! COMMENT!


	5. Week One, Day Five: Come to Me

Author's notes: Yes the plot is thickening and it only gets thicker. You're probably noticing at this point that the original characters are kinda an intricate part of the story. Hopefully they don't bother you, you don't hate them and you don't think they ruin TWEWY. If you do I'm totally cool with that, just... uhh... tell me what's bothering you about them. I already said there'd be original characters at the start, but I don't think that bothers you if you made it this far. The canon are here now in the story, but I'm trying my hardest to make the plot twists and characterization matter. Honestly I'm hoping not to be a pretentious prick who wants to make my characters better in every way to the originals. Although you can expect the main villains are a major threat and could fight multiple characters. The main villain might not even have a name, but you should know who's the big problem that needs to be dealt with. It's not a human threat. I'll stop spoiling things... or try. I have this bad habit of dropping spoilers sometimes... SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!

XXX W1 D5XXX

Kotori approached a towering heap of metal. To some it was merely random scraps thrown together in no particular order, but to Minamimoto it was art. The man had the look of a mugger in a suit. Stains of oil which no one bothered asking how he got them. Torn holes littered his clothing which others paid no heed to. One might ask him why or where he got a business suit and even be so bold as to ask him why he was wearing a cap with it. But Kotori knew better, it was better not to know. "The players are being erased as expected. The next mission will proceed as expected." Kotori reported, guessing that he wouldn't even care.

Then he asked a light question and unexpected question, "How many are left?" Oh wow, he did care. Something must have caught his interest this game. Not much could. Arts and crafts were serious business.

Kotori looked down as her orange hair was dangled neatly in a pony tail behind her today. She wore a random assortment of clothing and the only constant was that she often wore shoes that made her look taller. That and she'd wear something she could change out of and into a disguise. Roller skates seemed to be one thing she wore a lot, maybe to travel faster? Oh and she had pink lipstick and chewed on some taffy. Seriously sometimes you wondered if she was just trying to be distracting."Thirteen players left."

Sho's head made a quick turn and his hand snatched the clipboard from her, "An inverse matrix?" The Conductor often made such outbursts.

Kotori was calm of course, "Thanatos has no partner as usual… There's nothing wrong."

Sho didn't waste his time explaining, "Zetta slow… check the first day." All the little gizmos in his brain were whirring. He was thinking hard.

Kotori looked at it, "Nothing out of the ordinary, what am I looking for?"

Sho had to scoff at her, she obviously wasn't a genius. "Do the math! First Inner Outer Last! Check the first day to start. Look for unseen variables in the equation."

Kotori scanned the document with her purple eyes bobbing up and down. "We had 80 players at the start. Forty pacts were confirmed… one person erased before he could make a pact." She had to stop. Oh, that was odd. It dawned on her then, "How do you make 40 pacts with 79 players?..." She then saw what Sho was talking about, "An extra player?"

"Show me the confirmed pacts." Sho began as he walked up to a screen in the poorly lit room. Pictures flashed by as he caught every detail of every player in fractions of a second. He stopped the moment he found a picture of Weiss on day one. "I did not subtract his price. He's our hidden variable."

Kotori looked at the paperwork and said, "No… this isn't right… There's no record of him joining. Yet he's clearly dead and he's clearly playing this game." This wasn't good. Weiss might be an illegal player.

Sho pulled out a megaphone and rested it on his back. Luckily he wasn't going to speak into it yet, "Find this extra player… find out if he's negative or positive… find out his final equation for being here… more importantly… Find out if he needs to be removed to even our numbers." Negative or positive roughly translates to alive or dead and possibly (in some cases) female or male. This was an interesting puzzle.

Kotori had unwittingly helped this player in a ditch effort to remove Okami. She needed to speak with a pink haired hothead and her frilly haired partner in crime. "Weiss… so that's what he calls himself… Tell me Weiss, who are you?"

**Week 1 Day 5- Come to Me**

"_Find your partner. The lone wolf shall be hunted by a lone hunter. He has 90 minutes to hunt. Survive or be fed to the noise." –_**The Reapers**

Weiss awoke with a vibrating phone giving him momentary discomfort. He looked at the silver phone and muttered, "What?"

Weiss then proceeded to look around the area he was in. He was in Cadoi city and Nanami was nowhere in sight. Weiss looked at his mission again and held his eyes closed while he collected his thoughts, "The mission is for players to find their partners. Assuming the lone wolf is an unpartnered player… the lone hunter would be a reaper." It was clear as mud, but he couldn't guess how the mission was actually designed or even if it was fair. If even one noise attacked, it'd be over for him. But that would be against the rules. There were few things reapers weren't allowed to do for missions and this was on the borderline of the rules. Okami was taking every inch he was given and Weiss could tell he was near crossing the line. Still finding his partner couldn't be the hard part. At least not for him. He had his reaper phone and it it was his secret pass to victory. Good thing those Reapers gave it to him.

Weiss reached into his pocket to find a phone. He spoke as he tapped on it. "Where are you Nanami?" Success he had the phone revealing a map of the city with only a few dots representing the players. There was almost none left, crap. After a glance he noticed only one active reaper. He was right about the lone hunter being a reaper. But surely he couldn't attack. Then one of the dots was removed from the map. It seemed the reaper very well could. There weren't any barriers, but the players who didn't start running weren't going to make it. Players had to find their partners. Weiss had to race to find Nanami and if the reaper found him, it'd be over. "Okami certainly knows how to make this a challenge."

Elsewhere.

Nanami awoke with the ache in her head gone. Her memory was hazy, "Where am I?" She asked in a tired moan. The girl gave a quick look around, it was dark and quiet. It didn't feel like Shibuya. When the girl opened her eyes she could see cement above her. She was under a bridge. Nanami got up and looked at the phone her hand softly rubbing her head. "Find your partner?" The girl looked around and guessed Weiss wouldn't be anywhere to be found. But that couldn't be right, she could only fight with her partner. All players needed their partner. The girl let out a huff wondering how that could possibly be fair. In the end she decided she'd need to move and not worry about fairness. If she found Weiss she could at least stand a fighting chance against the noise. The girl began to run out from under the bridge and towards the city. Noting landmarks around her, she was near the train station. Where should she go? The girl shut her eyes and blurted out the obvious answer, "The hachiko statue!"

Weiss began running in the direction of where Nanami should be. He wasn't surprised to see that there were no walls up to slow them down, hell even if he did get attacked, he could get to Nanami by just running. There weren't any Noise after him. But even so he had to hurry and he couldn't chance a Noise attack. The reaper was working fast on the players. The reaper was systematically taking out players before they reached their partner. It wouldn't be long before he was the nearest living player to the reaper. Luckily Nanami wasn't anywhere close. He ran a moment until he had to make a turn. Weiss now was passing the Shibu department store area. Almost to the scramble crossing. "So far so good." Weiss said in a cheery tone only to suddenly come to a complete stop. There were red visible barriers in his path.

What he saw was looking right at him, it was the black and red suited man from the coffee shop. "Charon?" Weiss knew his name. Plenty of times Charon visited the coffee shop. Weiss was at the coffee shop a lot. But he didn't remember when he ever heard Charon say his name. It was instinctive, how odd. Come to think of it, he didn't remember much about Charon. The suited man had his hands in his pockets and quietly stood in the path of Weiss. Behind him was a wall. "I didn't know you were a part of the game, Charon." Weiss said making his way from running to walking toward the red and black suited visitor.

Charon was a scary man, Nanami had good reason to be unnerved by his presence, "Weiss, you are using an illegal item. Players may not use a reaper's phone." How did he know about that? Weiss didn't tell anyone and neither did those Reapers if they knew what was good for them.

Weiss held up the black skulled phone, "This? It was given to me."

Charon's eyes were filtered through red shades, but they were scary, "I'm aware. However the fact remains you have it."

Weiss cocked his head and asked him, "Ohh? So you are involved in this game."

Charon blinked with mild annoyance and said, "I am not part of this game. Nor would it matter. Please give the phone to me." Charon extended his gloved hand and Weiss gave a last look at the phone. Despite the phone being an extremely useful item and despite the fact that most people would question who Charon was and on what authority he took the phone, Weiss gave it away without question or thinking about it. In fact Weiss almost didn't have any say in handing it over. It got blurry and he just gave it to Charon. Even he didn't know why he handed over his victory ticket so easily.

After he gave Charon the phone, the suited man crushed the phone in his hand. Now phones may spark a little when they're crushed. But Weiss knew they were supposed to have RED electricity when they are destroyed. It was crackling dust by the time Charon was done crushing it. Without another word Charon stepped aside, "Move along."

Weiss obeyed and moved on to find his partner. Leaving Charon standing in the street. It took a moment of running before Weiss realized. "Move along? Did he just make me do that?" He blacked out and he just did what Charon wanted. No free choice on his end. Was that an imprint? If it was it was the most powerful imprint he'd ever seen. Weiss could even resist Hanekoma's imprints and Hanekoma was the best imprinter by a longshot. Imprints were thoughts or mental suggestions that were put into the mind. They could be in written works or words. Hanekoma was a genius at it, it's why he was such a good writer. If Charon just used an imprint with his words. 'Move along', then it was forcing a thought or idea upon Weiss. One that he couldn't resist. Hardly fair. That kind of bull was reserved for the Composer.

XXXX

Nanami huffed as she made her way to the hachiko statue. The girl guessed she didn't have long before trouble came her way. Indeed it would come before she reached the hachiko statue. She made it, but someone was waiting for her.

"Zetta slow…" The rugged Conductor said as he worked with metal scraps to make a construction of what he considered to be art. The artwork was almost finished, he completed the inscription on the artwork and it read, _This world's gonna explode and I'm the bomb to do the job._ Kotori stood nearby and wasn't amused by it. Nanami at first tried to walk by them and then she hit a wall. "You have to be greater than or equal to the power of the wall to break it. Since you don't have the strength for such an equation and no variables present, you need to talk to me if you want through." The conductor turned to Nanami and she took out her notebook ready to fight, "I'm out of your vector. A yoctogram like you has statistically 0% chance of defeating a Conductor." Sho Minamimoto wore a suit covered in rust and bits of metal dust. His ragged grey hair covered by an even worse shape hat. The man looked like a mugger in a tuxedo, a mugger!

"What do you want with me?" Nanami asked him the conductor with her guard up.

Sho didn't answer.

Kotori took a look at the clipboard and asked, "Who is your partner?"

Nanami paused and looked at them both confused, "Weiss." The girl said guessing that information was free to give. Besides they were Reapers, they should already know.

Kotori took the opportunity to continue, "When did you make a pact with Weiss?"

Nanami demanded to know, "What's this about?"

Kotori looked at Sho and he told her in a serious tone, "Yeah, an inverse matrix."

Kotori was in total agreement, "The boy you know as Weiss entered the game in unauthorized manner. We don't know who he is, but he doesn't belong in this game. He's paid no price nor are we sure if he's even dead." Sho tapped his foot in waiting. Nanami didn't figure this out fast enough for his taste.

Nanami began to wonder a lot of things about her partner. "So… Since I'm his partner… He's going to come here. What are you going to do with him?" It made sense that if you wanted to find a player, you might as well find his partner. Actually that put Weiss in a vulnerable spot. If she weren't there he could just run, but with her there he had to make sure she got out too.

Sho muttered, "Odds are we'll erase the son of a digit."

With a look of pure horror Nanami couldn't believe it. "No… why?"

Kotori tried to comfort the player, "We have no intention of erasing you. You're to be considered a victim of a rogue who is now cooperating with us. Most likely you'll be paired with another partner and continue the game."

Sho tapped his foot in waiting. "This is subtracting from my arts and crafts time."

Nanami could hardly believe what she was hearing. Then a lot of strange things about Weiss made sense. He didn't remember where he died. He didn't CARE how he died. Did he even die? All the things she wrote off as not having a price? If they never took a price at all, that just meant he was a liar. He was lying to her? No, more likely the reapers were lying. Reapers could not be trusted either. Still... she wondered. The girl could only worry, but she did decide to cooperate with them, "Weiss will be heading toward the Hachiko statue…"

There was a wall keeping her from escaping anyway, they must have placed it when she ran by. Sho out of pure irritation kicked the wall with incredible force causing the entire whole thing to shatter. That or he was just making a point that Nanami was free to go when this was over. He had no business with her and he wasn't wasting his time on her.

Kotori loosely sighed as he could have just unlocked it. "Stay with us." Kotori said as her boss ran towards the Hachiko statue. There would no doubt be another work of "art" by the time she and Nanami got there.

XXX Elsewhere XXX

Beat stood in the elevator going up to the top floor. The door opened revealing that he was in the upper floor of Darklit Entertainment. He walked past various works of art, awards, newest tin pin toys and original manuscripts of upcoming books in glass cases.

He walked up to a pretty lady in business attire. "Here to see phones."

The lady would ask, "Do you have an appointment with Mr. Sakuraba?"

Beat in turn scratched the back of his head, "Who the hell is he?" Not realizing that was the person he came to see. The secretary eyed him as a fool at first glance, although not entirely wrong. "Mr. Sakuraba is in a meeting with a client. Please return when you have made an appointment. I'm calling security."

Beat walked by her and opened the glass door, "Hey phones!"

In the room were three men. Two black haired men wearing suits and one orange haired adult wearing a white and blue suit which was doubtless designed by Shiki. "Excuse me, gentlemen." Said the owner of Darklit Entertainment as he approached Beat, "Sorry I didn't make it to the hospital. My cellphone ran out of battery and my secretary is snotty. Shiki told me last night." Actually he almost got kicked out of the bedroom because of it.

Beat responded by pulling up the newest skateboard design. A skeleton surfing on a shark across a concrete tidal wave. "Nice." Neku said taking the skateboard and looking at the artwork on it. "Beat… you haven't done one this good in a while." It was definitely on his top 3 best works.

Beat grinned, "Told ya I'd do it. Now what were you saying about the hospital? It ain't like you to miss out on Rhyme."

Neku scratched the back of his head and looked at the two suited men, "Would you excuse us. I'll have Makoto fill you in on the merge specifics." The two suits looked at each other displeased and left.

Neku didn't seem to need their approval, "They're going to merge, they're just making a show about it…" Neku muttered.

Beat interrupted his thoughts, "Yo! Why'd you take so long to find out about Rhyme? That deserves and asskickin, phones!" Clearly Beat was mad about that. If Neku didn't come today, he was going to drag Neku's butt all the way there. No really, there was going to be an ass stain all the way there. Although he did owe Neku one for giving him an extra day. His sister being hit by a car was a valid excuse for not making the deadline, but Neku smoothed things over.

Neku shook his head, "Can I get a raincheck on the asskicking? I think I need to get your new design out on the market."

Beat had a big smile and crossed arms, "It's good, eh?"

Neku would look at it and say, "You made a hell of a visual imprint…" A quick reminder that imprints were anything that could be put into the mind of another person to really alter how they think about something. Players used them on real people throughout the game. Although only now did they see just how common imprints were. They were in every type of a art you could imagine.

Beat said, "Yeah man! It came natural! I had to erase some Noise to clear my head, phones." He wondered if he should mention the battle with the Noise and for that matter the player who helped him.

Neku smirked, "It's funny how you can make incredible imprints by accident. Everyone's got their talent." Neku was kinda wondering how he made one this good all of the sudden.

Beat thought about it, "Yeah… I can make visual imprints… You can make imprints with words… Shiki can only imprint on clothing… Hanekoma…"

Neku stopped Beat there, it wasn't fair to compare yourself to the Producer. The top dogs as far as spiritual stuff went were the Producer and the Composer. If there was someone who could resist an imprint or make one it'd be them. Hanekoma was better with imprints and Joshua was just barely a step under God. "Hanekoma can use every type of imprint you can think of and better than humans ever could. But we all got some way we can touch the heart and mind of others. This Beat, this is art." He was proud of Beat, his words and expression said so.

The blonde skater grabbed Neku around the neck and asked him quietly, "I been sensing the Noise man... There's a lot of them. I see trouble, man."

Neku let out a sigh, "I thought you could only hear the UG…" He was hoping it was just him.

Beat explained, "Dude, everybody can feel the noise. We just got different ways of noticing em. Although I suppose I'd rather hear em then see em." Beat didn't know how insensitive he was being. Neku had to work to get used to seeing Noise everywhere he went. Seeing the Noise sucked royally. It didn't help he could sense them too.

Neku let loose a sigh as he confessed, "Noise are multiplying way too fast… Sometimes I walk down the street and I have to erase em just to give everyone a moment of peace…"

Neku looked at his hand and then at the darklit planet pins. "Returning to the living world made us remember what life was about… but I can't help but think we've forgot something. The Underground is very much changing Shibuya." So much so Joshua actually contacted Neku recently. He wanted Neku's help with something. And Joshua was a step down from God. If he needed help with something that was ill news.

Beat cracked his knuckles and said, "Yeah… but… you can't spend time wondering what you should be doing. You just gotta do it."

Neku could only shake his head with amusement, "If only I could do things your way. I gotta think before I act. Shibuya's in trouble… and I'm hoping there's something I can do about it." He didn't tell Beat about Joshua. It could be nothing. But a Composer asking a former Player for help was very bad. This was about the Noise. The Noise were getting out of control.

Beat could see Neku looking out of the glass window that overlooked the city. Neku had his eyes on the top of Pork City. He saw something. He always saw something there. Beat guessed he was lucky he couldn't see the Underground like Neku could. Ever since they'd been brought back to life he knew that the game changed them. Neku changed most of all. He had trouble sleeping while seeing Noise. After the game he could see noise in the UG, players and reapers. Beat himself could hear them and that alone was disturbing enough.

After a moment Beat looked at his player pin, "Well… make sure you come visit Rhyme, man. Or you're gonna have a foot up your ass." He wondered if he should tell Neku about that Player he ran into.

Neku smiled as he still looked at Pork City. "I'll come by later today. I got a lot of work I should be doing."

Nah maybe later. Besides that player probably had nothing to do with anything. It's not like Neku needed to hear every little thing all the time. He'd tell Neku later tonight when he wasn't working.

Neku could see a Noise symbol the size of Shibuya looming above and every day it looked worse.

XXX Meanwhile XXX

Weiss was getting closer to the Hachiko statue. He felt trouble looming ahead as usual. He came to a stop when he could see the statue. He looked around, but couldn't see Nanami. "Nanami? Where are you?"

Weiss called out a few more times. Then he sensed something, something powerful. Reapers and officer class Reapers at that. This was no Joe Hawkeye, these guys were the real deal. Then Weiss smiled confidently, he had no reason to appear weak. "Are you so desperate that you would visit a player? I thought Conductors were above that."

He turned to see Sho Minamimoto working on another tower of art. "You sometimes have to move the numbers around to figure out the unknown variable." The conductor turned and walked toward Weiss finishing his work for now.

The scrap heap had a quote written, _Everyone looks toward the ____unknown, but I've seen it all. _

Weiss grinned at the work of art and told him, "So then, what will you do now that I'm here?"

The Conductor smirked clearly already decided, "I ask the questions I get the answers. Were you expecting to meet your final solution here? I'll divide you into nothing radian!" The Conductor didn't bother making a show of power. He could kill Weiss easily. Weiss knew that, but couldn't show it. Call it a bluff or dying with dignity, he wasn't showing it.

Weiss looked in the direction of where Nanami was, "I can't say that it shocks me. But what's most surprising is the time. Shouldn't we have had this talk on the first day?"

The Conductor didn't seem to care what Weiss had to say. He just kept making his own observations, "Well at least you aren't alive. How did you join this game, insignificant yoctogram?" Sho wasn't going to put up with crap. The white haired player could answer quickly or be erased. Honestly his answers couldn't save him at this point.

Weiss went ahead and told the truth, unlike his usual smile he had a smug look. The smug look was a little out of character. "I can't really say I know. But I've broken no rules. So what will you do?"

Sho grinned and had heard enough, "No record of you, no price paid. The sum of these equals erasure."

Weiss let loose a feigned sigh, "Perhaps first you should talk to the Composer."

Sho didn't need any lip. He was going to make it quick. The Conductor raised his arm and gray power flowed into his arm. It might have been more impressive if he actually got to finish the attack. His phone was vibrating and guess who was on the other end. It was his boss. He answered not with a look of confusion but a look of rage, "You know about this yoctogram?"

You couldn't be sure what the Conductor heard, but it wasn't pleasing. He glared at Weiss and knew perfectly well that if the Composer was calling over this brat... it meant it wasn't a brat. Something else was at work here. The Conductor had no choice after listening to the Composer. The Composer gave him a short list of commands one of which was, "Let the player before you live."

After a while the Conductor finally hung up "Lucky you." Sho began to walk away and intended for his assistant to come with him. "We're leaving. The game is to continue. The Composer has made it clear that we are not to interfere with the game." Sho was trying to figure out what the Composer might be plotting. No one was an authority over Joshua so that had to mean that he was somehow pulling the strings. That or he just now got involved in this new player.

Kotori walked out behind the statue and she was just as confused as the Conductor.. The Composer had a habit of being three steps ahead of everyone. Kotori could only guess that the Composer knew everything or enough to be willing to see the outcome. The Composer never explained his reasoning for anything.

Sho told Weiss, "Grab your partner and count your seconds. Our business is done, but the week continues.

It looked like the Conductor might actually have a guess or two what the Composer might be doing. It dawned on him that Joshua might not be pulling all the strings, but it was possible that Joshua owed someone a favor. Perhaps not even a favor, perhaps someone just convinced Joshua to pardon this player? It didn't add up. There's no one who could convince Joshua of that. Or was there?

Nanami walked out. Now unlike the Reapers, she didn't even know who or what the Composer was supposed to be. She did know that Sho was not the type to just walk away. She knew something was up and that Weiss dropped the smug look the moment Sho walked away. He went back to his usual smile and gave the girl a light wave, "Head feeling better?"

XXXX

"What's going on, chief?" Hanekoma scrubbed a plate and looked up to see his favorite Composer of Shibuya.

The Composer ruled over the city and was the only one with the power to bring a human back to life at the end of the game. Some saw him as a glowing being of immense power, some saw him as a smug boy in a button down shirt and some saw whatever Joshua wanted them to see. Hanekoma preferred to see Joshua as the little boy who came to him for advice. Perhaps it was this perception that made him see an eight year old standing before him. Hanekoma would either call him chief or, "Need something, kiddo?" Joshua didn't deserve that one, but Hanekoma had been alive for a very long time.

Joshua didn't feel like getting sidetracked just yet. "I did what you asked, what was it about? Explain why you asked me to call my Conductor and to tell him to spare a player. It's not usual for you to keep me out of the loop."

Hanekoma chuckled, "Sorry about that. I try to keep you in the loop when I can."

Joshua tried putting it another way. As Composer he was Hanekoma's boss. Hanekoma was an assistant only to the Composer. The Composer had a little authority on him, "Tell me why you asked me to spare that player."

Hanekoma went back to shining up a glass, "Wish I could tell you, kiddo."

Interesting. Very interesting. Hanekoma didn't answer. True, usually an unanswered question didn't say very much. But Hanekoma not answering Joshua meant something else. Joshua knew that and took mental notes of the possibilities. "Let me put it another way, what can you tell me?"

Hanekoma kept looking out the counter and scrubbed the crumbs of bagel and muffin off his coffee counter. "I can't tell you anything chief. No hints and no help from me."

Joshua smirked, "I see. In that case... I'll have to look into it personally."

Hanekoma shrugged a bit, "I'm sorry I can't tell you. But I can thank you for helping me out. You did me a real solid saving that player. I mean it. Thanks. If you want to look into it you can, but..."

Joshua waited. It seemed like Hanekoma was trying to find the right words, or rather. Use the words he was allowed to say.

"Well just don't push it. You're on probation, remember?"

Joshua made an amused little snicker. "Well I owed you after all. It's not often you ask me to help you. I'm looking into the Player, but you're saying I should keep my distance?"

Hanekoma nodded.

Joshua rolled his eyes. Joshua knew something. Enough to figure this out if he had just a little more detail. Usually the little more details came from Hanekoma. This time they wouldn't. The Composer was the top dog of Shibuya and it looked like some other top dog might be moving on to his turf. The angels? Another Composer? Something else? There were rumors of intelligent Noise. Now keenly observing the obvious anyone could guess that the angels were involved regardless. The angels were mostly observers, they didn't have many of the freedoms humans enjoy. Most of the time they want to act, but can't. Hanekoma was a high ranking angel or... was a high ranking angel. So he had a lot more freedoms and active roles. But he was an angel and it sounded like the angels wanted him to keep his mouth shut. Joshua knew this and more. Joshua wasn't the Composer because he could be a grade A jackass, he was clever and crafty.

"Alright we'll not talk about that. How's your other project going."

That Hanekoma could talk about. Just not to anyone other than Joshua. Composer's orders. "I found some solutions... it's taken weeks of trial and error. Sometimes all I can do is sit back and wait for the results. But at least I've been getting results. The increase in Noise has really sped up the whole process."

Joshua didn't need to be reminded, "I noticed the increase of Noise, they've had enough power to wipe out Shibuya for a year. Why didn't they do it then."

Hanekoma was happy to tell Joshua what he could. "You know the drill, chief. The Noise love overkill. But before they invaded they'd have to do something about you."

Joshua looked at the timer on his hand, "I think I'm pretty powerless as is."

Hanekoma frowned. "Look, I know how you feel. But even I tried to stop you back then. I know I went about it the wrong way, but I don't have any regrets. Even you knew you needed to be stopped."

Joshua looked at his timer some more. It was funny, he always thought having a long timer would be nice. But it was hell. Knowing that not only you would die, but knowing that the day it would happen. That is... unless he could prevent it.

"It was a mistake to think I could just erase everything."

"Look… I'm sorry… I loved Shibuya. I loved people. All I ever did was love… art, people, people's dreams and even you. But… You turned your back on this city. Hell… I turned my back on you for it. I had to do it though."

Joshua got depressed mighty quick, "I was powerless then and I'm powerless now." The mood didn't suit Joshua at all.

Hanekoma shook his head, "Everyone knows you're not powerless. You're still the most powerful thing in Shibuya, even on probation. If something made you mad enough..."

Joshua smiled, "It takes a lot to make me mad."

Hanekoma pointed up, "They've got a lot. Honestly we're all in a mexican standoff. You can't do anything until they do. The angels can't do anything until you do. The Noise can't do anything until the angels let them loose. If anyone makes the first move..."

Joshua already knew who would, "The noise or me will be the first to act. I need to make sure it's me."

Hanekoma was blunt, "Make it count. Shibuya's going to become a battleground no matter what you do."

Joshua already knew, "Then we'll make it a short battle. I'll visit again later. If the higher ups still want to be asses... so be it." That made Joshua think of a possible solution, "Speaking of asses... how's Neku?"

Hanekoma sighed, "Please don't."

Joshua was gone. He teleported away. Leaving Hanekoma alone in his coffee shop. Well not quite. Sitting at one of the tables was the suited Charon.

Hanekoma looked his direction, "How long were you there?"

Charon sipped on hot coffee. It should have burned, "Long enough to stop caring what you and the Composer are plotting."

Hanekoma smirked at the little smartass. "What's the word from the higher ups?"

Charon wondered how best to answer. He sipped the coffee some more. Then he paused. Another drink. Pause and drink. Finally he gave a clue, "They're looking into the situation. I'm on standby. Joshua will be under observation. They're watching him until such time they determine his fate."

Hanekoma had a curious streak, "What happens if he misbehaves before his timer runs out?"

Charon answered quickly, "I'll erase him. Although I've never fought someone as powerful as him before. Still... I doubt he could win."

Hanekoma chuckled, "Guess the higher ups are still mad at us, eh? Well that's consequences for you."

XXXX

Nanami couldn't take the silence anymore. She and Weiss had been walking in silence for a while now, "Weiss… who are you?" She finally moaned the words out. Every fiber of her body hoped that the boy could at least give her some peace of mind.

Weiss wasn't very good at that, "Does it really bother you that much? I don't know who I am… it doesn't bother me. Just think of me as a stranger."

Nanami didn't want that, "You're not a stranger! You're my partner, Weiss! I want to know more about you! I want to KNOW something about you!" She was so frustrated and aggravated.

Weiss frowned at that and tried to understand as best he could, "You want to know more about me… and I don't know about myself… So what is it about me you want to know?" He himself saw the problem. Maybe if she asked him the right question he might figure it out for himself.

Nanami didn't even know what to ask. "Tell me something about yourself, something real." That wasn't going to get them anywhere. She needed to ask something specific.

"I don't fear the unknown. I know that there's important things I can't remember, but I can't bring myself to care. It's like I'm not allowed to try to remember." He actually tried to tell her what was going on.

Nanami was in no mood for this, "Weiss... you didn't pay a price. Whatever is wrong with you was wrong with you at the start."

Weiss smiled, "Well obviously. I don't think I'm normal by any standard. The real question is what am I?"

Nanami was less angry, but still irritated that he couldn't just ONCE give her a straight answer, "Weiss you should know that! If you don't know, guess."

Weiss chuckled. The expression on his face changed. It wasn't the usual smile he gave her, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you this much. I don't understand people. I can't. I could even so far to say I hate the people of Shibuya. Everyone strives to hurt one another. The clash of creeds that defines Shibuya will ultimately destroy it. Now your very creations seek to ruin their creator? How fitting. Ever since I've been here I knew about the Noise. I could see them. I could see players and I understood the rules of the game. I knew all of the game rules before I even started. I watched Shibuya year after year and it's only gotten worse. I hate this city and I feel like I've seen everything I need to see. No one could understand what I went through because they're too ignorant to see the spiritual side of things. I've always seen the Underground. But how? Why? I don't know. I can't bring myself to care, I know in my head it matters, but my heart won't let me know. There are memories I simply can't access. Sometimes even right after I do something I can't remember it. Now you're asking what's wrong with me? As if you actually cared? No. You don't really care and you shouldn't. All you want is some security right now that I'm not dangerous to you. The last time I showed something about myself you didn't like it. I laughed when players were being erased and you tell me that was wrong. I tried changing myself and I hope I succeeded. But the fact remains. I don't remember what you want to know. I don't know who I am and I won't. Not here, not now. You accuse me of not being honest with you? There's a reason people aren't honest. I've had people ask me to always be honest with them. But when they hear the truth they break down and don't want anything further to do with one another. We're humans, Nanami. We're supposed to lie to one another. We all wear clothes differently for different situations to appear to be different. We put on masks of make up or expressions we practice daily until others accept us. We constantly word things so they won't hurt others around us or use them to purposely cause harm. We constantly deny truths about ourselves and what we want. The moment someone tells the truth, they get rejected. If anyone here has been a liar it's you."

Nanami felt all sorts of things as he talked. This was real. That was how Weiss really felt. It took a monologue, but that was what he really thought. Despite everything she heard, he wasn't lying. The honesty was refreshing. It wasn't exactly what she liked hearing, but it was a step in the right direction. As for her lying? What was he talking about? "What do you mean? I never lied to you."

Weiss smirked and he actually looked well... evil. He was acting different now or rather now he wasn't acting. "You said you never took the job in Shibuya, yet here you are. You stayed at the hospital, because of a bond. You get headaches whenever you think of your past. The truth is obvious. You were here when you died. You were killed here in Shibuya. That's why you were in this game. You knew Rhyme, didn't you? When you saw her hurt, you wanted to stay. And don't let your headaches be a further excuse. You know the truth now. The truth hurts, it'll cause you pain. But you asked for it. You've been lying to yourself if you think you didn't come here. Accept that."

That's when Weiss expected her to yell and grab her head. She didn't. She just looked back at him and shut her eyes. "You're right. Thank you. Thank you for being honest." She was upset not with him, but herself. He was right. Whether she knew it or not she'd been drowning herself in a lie. She was definitely here in Shibuya and right now it didn't even hurt. She knew this. It was fact. She still couldn't get her memories back of what really happened, but that was no excuse for denying the facts.

Then she walked away. Wasn't she supposed to yell at him? Wasn't he a psychopath or something? Surely she had some smartass remark to make. She didn't. She just walked away.

Her head started hurting now. She started thinking about her past, but she went past the pain. It really hurt and if she pushed herself, it could kill her. It was so painful that tears welled up. She was starting to remember a few things. "You know what's funny…" She held back tears but stopped when she looked him in the eye, "Everything you said is true… everyone hiding their true self… Even me." Nanami looked at her clothes. They were nothing like her. It was evidence that Weiss was right about something, "I'm like that too… A lot of people in Shibuya put on acts or facades. Myself included." She said looking at Weiss somehow her soul's power increased. She was digging for the truth even though it hurt her.

Weiss didn't know what to say to that that, "You're the first person that didn't get angry after I told them what I think." He muttered.

Nanami told him, "No… I mean… I wanted to be angry, but… that wouldn't make it right. I mean, we need to work together. We need to trust one another and… even though I don't know what to think. You were honest with me. You actually have a lot of bitterness in you. You act like you don't, but you're really quite angry."

Were they having a moment? Well it's as much as a touching moment as they'd get. He went back to his usual smile. He stopped being angry for now."Your emotions are what you choose them to be, I'd rather be happy. So I smile. I don't want to be angry at the world or Shibuya. I have reasons to be angry… but wise men forget their anger. They leave it behind. I don't hate you Nanami… I'm not even sure I know how to hate." He chuckled going back to his light hearted tone.

The girl slowly let out a smile and started walking with him. "I see what you mean though… from this day forward. My clothes and friends won't represent me! I represent myself!" She was optimistic all of the sudden.

Weiss shook his head. "Humans are strange but girls… they're even stranger."

They walked to nowhere in particular.

XXX

Nanami looked around a moment realizing that they were almost to the café where Hanekoma was hanging out, "By the way Weiss, you said you know about the rules, right?"

Weiss nodded at her and said in a happy manner, "Yes I do."

Nanami thought a moment, "A reaper said something about a price. I was hoping you could tell me a little more about how a price works."

Weiss nodded at her, "A price is more or less your entry fee into the game. Everyone pays a price when they enter the game. Your price is whatever is the most important thing to you they could grab. They're supposed to teach you what's important when you win."

Nanami would ask trying to figure out what her price was, "Are there limits on what the price could be?"

Weiss would look up and squint his eye as if trying to think of the limitations. "Well there are limits, not many though. They could take people, memories, items of value and changing you drastically. In a previous game they switch the appearance of one girl with that of another. Well... I shouldn't say switched. But getting on topic, they can take or do almost anything."

Nanami went ahead and asked, "Is there any way to retrieve your price before the game is over?"

Weiss could only shake his head, "No, that's impossible. The best you could get are fragments. If it's a memory, you can't remember it until the game is over. If it was your price at least… There are memories that can be taken from higher beings like the Composer. The Composer could take something without asking and with the guy who's in power right now… He's done it before and he'll do it again."

Nanami wanted to know more about the price, "So let's say my price was a memory… I think it is… what would my headaches mean?"

Weiss folded his hands and thought, "In all likelihood… Your dormant memory trying to come out. If your mind is trying to remember something, but can't… well… You'll just get a headache. As I said you being at the hospital… you probably knew those people… but you won't be able to remember anything about them no matter how hard you try. If you remembered them, then memories aren't your price. But I think they are in your case. I'm almost positive that your price is a large number of memories."

Nanami paused, "Well I remember minor things about them… brief moments."

Her head hurt and Weiss told her, "Those are fragments. Don't try to remember. " She was going to anyway, by the way she was acting.

She shook her head a moment, "It's not the memories that's the price… I remembered I died in Shibuya. No pain, I remember the store… no pain. I used to be there but… what's my price?" She groaned and Weiss had to catch her before she fell.

Weiss let out a light sigh and told her softly, "Calm down… Please don't think about it… if you can't remember your price that's because it's part of the price… Just stay calm."

Nanami groaned and slowly got up. "I'm sorry… It's hard not think about it. I'll keep my mind clear as best I can."

Weiss smiled and told her in a fawning manner, "That's a good girl."

Nanami blushed and looked away. The girl dusted herself off and asked him, "Are you sure you don't have a price?"

Weiss stopped smiling and looked up. "From what the Conductor said… I didn't pay one." Weiss paused a moment, "The real question is how I got in the game… I don't know how I would get into this game alive but… it's not unheard of…" He seemed to be glancing around as if looking for something in his head. He remembered Joshua pulling a stunt like that once. But he was the Composer. Shouldn't it take Composer power to do something like that? Were there other Composers? Could someone else sneak him in? The timing was perfect. If not for Sho, they wouldn't have noticed. Wait! How come he was still here? "Nanami? How come the Conductor didn't erase me?

She was surprised, he should know that better than her, "You said something about talking to his boss. Don't you remember?"

Weiss stopped a moment. He didn't remember, "I said that?"

Nanami raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you didn't have a price? You seem to forget things quickly."

Weiss shook his head. He didn't have time. He couldn't figure this out here. He had to move.

Nanami seemed to be unsure if he really knew are not, "You don't have any idea? Maybe something it's something the Conductor didn't take. You said the Composer was above him right? Well if the Composer took it, then he would call to clarify things." This was one of those rare moments where you were reminded Nanami was actually kinda smart sometimes. Sure she was new at the game and all, but she might be on to something.

The implications? Huge. If the Composer was involved that meant there might be another game going on. Yes that was a possibility. Well... if the Composer wasn't involved, he was about to be. Composers don't make phone calls often. Particularly about sparing players. The Composer was definitely going to see him soon enough. He wouldn't have spared Weiss unless he had some reason. Unless someone asked the Composer not to? Maybe Neku? Neku could cut a deal with the Composer. But he had no reason. His friends? Not likely. Hanekoma? Yes, that might be it. But then again, how could Hanekoma had known that Weiss was in trouble. He was at his shop. Yes he was definitely at his shop. There were customers inside and Hanekoma would have closed the store if he had left. For that matter, how was the timing that good? The phone call happened within a minute of Weiss needing it. Ugh, crap he was already starting to forget important details.

Weiss shook his head and suddenly stopped caring, "No… I think we should be more concerned about winning the game. The reason they take a price is so that you learn about yourself. It's a great way to remind the living why they were alive. If I died I either didn't need a price or I didn't die… I don't remember dying… or a price. But I'm thinking there's a reason I'm playing this game. I believe I'm here to serve some purpose. I'll find out what that purpose is whether I like it or not." The way he spoke was solemn. That's when they both sensed danger.

Nanami saw Joe Hawkeye up on the top of a building with a sniper rifle pointed right at her. Crap! The reaper!

XXX

Nanami stood tapping on her phone. She spoke into a phone walking briskly across the street. "Rhyme you can't make Beat meet a deadline. Even if he did meet a deadline we shouldn't make a brand of board that won't sell."

Rhyme chattered on the other end, "But… we were given a very generous deadline."

Nanami was just another business woman in high heels on this street. "Deadlines don't mean much to Mr. Sakuraba. He'll understand, Rhyme."

Rhyme let out a frustrated sigh, "How's your family? You still regret leaving them?"

Nanami shook her head, "Nice change of subject. I'm sure they're fine. They're still not picking up my calls… They'll have to sooner or later." She looked at her phone again to see if her father and mother ever picked up and they didn't. She must have called them twice a day.

"Do you think lunch might cheer you up?" Rhyme offered.

Nanami asked pulling out a notebook as it was littered with schedules and little cartoons on the side. "Lunch it is!" She drew a little picture of a muffin by 1:00pm. She would always draw instead of jotting down notes. It was one of those habits that amused her boss. "Alright! Great! Ask if Shiki and Eri are free. I'll be right there."

She passed by a tv stating that there was more robberies and a lot of car crashes. The girl let out a sigh and looked at her phone for a route to Wildkat. "There's a lot more accidents… Crime's going up too…" But she wouldn't let that get her down. She had to have lunch with some friends. Nanami went on looking at the sky thinking of her parents. The girl regretted leaving them. If she had stayed at least they'd talk to her. But then she wouldn't have got her dream job. It was a painful choice and she always wondered what it would have been like had she not taken it. It was a road she'd left behind. She couldn't go back now and if she stayed behind she might have a relationship with her parents. Maybe she shouldn't have left? Well at the end of the day, she chose to do what was best for her. Did that make her selfish?

The girl crossed the street skillfully avoiding cars as she would mutter how drivers were getting more and more distracted. Nanami could remember there being a book her boss gave her. A fictional story about a boy who played a game to be brought back to life. In it he had to face Noise and Noise were fed by the negative emotions given off by people. Enough noise in an area could have negative effects on people. In this case she thought of all the drivers who were distracted and half believed that noise were real, although she had a bad habit of believing fiction. She narrowly missed a person and wondered if there were any Noise on herself, "Ohh it doesn't matter." After looking around she noticed she was the only one waiting in the street of the café. It wasn't crowded at the moment, a rare thing in Shibuya. "The food probably sucks." The girl looked at the flowers outside that somehow survived the smoke and smiled. It reminded her of home again. She checked her phone one more time. Just in case. Still nothing. Why did she even look that often?

Something was wrong. Nanami heard something above. Then she turned her head to look on the roof of a building. There wearing a bandana over his mouth and a worn cowboy hat was a sniper holding a normal rifle you might find at the store. She heard a shot ring out and felt her chest. A perplexed look struck her. She dropped her phone and clung to her notebook. On her notepad was blood. There was blood on her shirt. It scared her, because for a half second she realized that the blood was hers. Pain came next. She looked up at the shooter. She only got a glimpse before another shot rang out. First she fell on her knees then she fell to the floor. She looked up to the sky as tears welled up in her eyes. Her body laying on her notebook and the whole thing ruined by blood. Her entire life flashed before her eyes. Dying here? She only felt regret. "No…" She said in tears, "It's not fair… I never got… to apologize…" Her eyes were wide open when her soul left her body. Nanami Haruka was dead. The shooter was gone soon after. This of course leaving the police baffled on how she was shot with a very short range weapon. It would take a really skilled shot to shoot her at distance with a ordinary rifle. It would have taken a team of specialists to find where the bullet was shot from and with all the crime going on. They didn't have time for that. They tried to find the shooter. They investigated Nanami Haruka and found no enemies. No leads, it was just a random killing. Just another victim in a long string of crimes flooding Shibuya. No one could find he murderer, but she saw his face. Too bad she was dead.

XXX

It hit her. The fragments came together. A single sliver of memory shot through her pain and that's when anger set in. "It was you..."

Joe had that same bandana on his neck and that same hat. He hopped down from atop the building and didn't even bother to land with style. He seemed fairly relaxed for a reaper approaching players. "What's the bird going on about?" Joe's Australian accent may have been faked but that was thick Australian.

Nanami got up after falling to her knees and repeated, "It was you…"

Weiss glanced at her and he had never seen her that upset before. Something was wrong. It may have been madder than she had ever been in her life. "You killed me!"

Weiss felt his eyes widen at first then narrow. His eyes flickered gold color for just a split second. Then they were normal again. "What?" He said.

A smug grin came across Joe Hawkeye. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He clearly wasn't going to admit to anything like that. A Reaper killing a live person wasn't unheard of, but it was taboo. It was to make more players so that he could get more points. More players meant more points, more dead people meant more players. If a Reaper could get away with murder, they could really rack up some points. If the top brass found out, they'd erase him in a heartbeat. Yes, even Reapers were scared of the Conductor. Although the Conductor would never investigate something like this. The Composer was too busy doing higher up stuff and Kotori could kiss his ass. Joe wasn't going to admit to it even if he had actually killed her. No sane human would. Nanami glared at him knowing that it was unmistakably Joe Hawkeye who shot her in the living world. "You shot me… In front of the café."

She pulled out her notepad ready to attack him when Weiss stepped in between her and Hawkeye. "Don't let anger control you. Let me get some facts first. If he really killed you we can find out now."

Joe didn't seem to care, "Three players are left in the game. You two are next. Sorry love, you got class, but not enough to make me give a warm bucket of piss about what you're talking about."

Weiss responded with a smile and a look at Hawkeye's face. "Tell me, did you kill Nanami?"

Joe Hawkeye smiled and chuckled, "Yeah I sure did." Joe's expression on his face changed after he answered. His smug expression gone. Confused eyes looked around and he wondered if he heard that right. "What's this?..." He rubbed his mouth as if wondering why he just admitted to something like that.

Weiss asked another question. "Tell me, were you aware that it was against all laws: human, reaper or otherwise?"

Joe took a step back as he told Weiss stuttering a moment, "Yeah, fully aware mate." Joe let out an angry exclamation, "Bloody hell?!" Why was he talking?! Rage filled his face and panic began to seep in.

Weiss asked him a third question, "Tell me, have you killed any other players while living?"

Hawkeye covered his mouth then both eyes shut hard, but he shouted the answer against his will, "I've been killing players for the last 2 weeks in order to gain more points and for my own amusement." That's when he knew, Weiss was somehow making him talk. "What the hell did you do to me?! What the hell are you doing?!" Hawkeye pulled out his gun and pointed it at Weiss. "How are you making me do that?"

Weiss went back to his normal expression. A simple smile, "So it's true… you're a murderer. Tell me, how did you do it?" However he was doing it, Nanami couldn't complain. She'd seen Weiss do some amazing things, but this was different.

Joe Hawkeye couldn't stop himself from answering as much as he struggled, Weiss was doing something to him. "I killed them from a distance using different weapons and methods. With no repeating pattern it'd be difficult for any type of law enforcement to discover me. I killed that girl at range with a short range firearm. It took a second shot to guarantee her death." Hawkeye had a fierce look in his eye, "Are you using some type of psych? An imprint! Well ... No matter… I can't let you find any other reapers. You now know far too much. What's breaking one more rule to erase the evidence."

Here's what needed to be done. Hawkeye was supposed to just summon Noise for them to fight. But they weren't going to fight Noise. They were going to fight him. He was going to break the rules. Attacking a player? True it was an offense, but who was to be the wiser. He needed to shut them up or else it'd be a death sentence. That's how he always handled it. Usually he'd go after his murder victims first to ensure they wouldn't talk. Lucky for him Nanami lost her memories and she probably couldn't get a good look at him him with a bullet wound in her.

Weiss and Nanami just heard everything. Hawkeye knew one way to silence both of them, "You're gonna die now, mate. And it won't be noise… you face me and the whole damned down under." Hawkeye cocked his gun ready to fight. A reaper against players, a murderer against his victim and a white haired boy with some sort of super imprint. It would make this battle worthy of remembrance.

XXXX

Suggested song: Psychedelic

After a moment of silence. Weiss and Nanami teleported out of each others respective zones, but they both could see Joe Hawkeye. The fight started with a quote.

"Guns make a lot of Noise." Opened by summoning backup. Fore every time he fired his rifle Noise appeared. It's true Hawkeye was going to fight them, but they better get used to the fact he was a genius at summoning noise. Nanami had to block the Noise with her notebook. There were kangaroo's and birds. Those seemed to be his favorite Noise. Guns were Joe's psych and they did more than just summon noise. He fired that rifle and out of it came a high powered energy blast. It looked like it belonged in DBZ. Actually it didn't it was merged with sunlight and reaper skulls. When he finished firing with his rifle he had to switch to his two pistols. Each of which fired green reaper skulls. Not as flashy, but still cool. Well one was green and the other was purple. Nanami didn't get to notice because she was too busy dodging.

"How are we supposed to dodge all this?!" Nanami cried trying her best to finish off the Noise quickly.

Weiss had some good advice, "The noise can be hit by his bullets too. That rifle of his goes right through them, but the Noise can be used to stop the pistol bullets."

Nanami took note and positioned herself accordingly. Weiss was right. Those pistol bullets tore up his own Noise. But by the way he was firing, he didn't need Noise, they were just a bonus.

Kangaroos hopped in the air so high that bullet fire rarely hit them and the birds provided little cover. So really it just boiled down to skillfully positioning yourself when the Noise did attack.

Nanami aimed at Joe with her notebook. The Noise didn't matter, he could just summon more. She had to take him out. He killed her and now he was going to pay for it. She had a chance to come back in life. Everything could come back. Everything HE stole from her. If you really thought about it, the whole game was his fault. He's the one who brought her into this and it wasn't her time to die. The fact she had gone so far was a motivation. She moved faster and her notebook was hitting harder. Joe walked slowly as he shot, avoiding some of her attacks, but he really didn't go out of his way to dodge. He took the hits like he didn't feel them. One could only guess that this was the power of a Reaper.

"You got class, love. Not many birds dodge bullets like you." He complimented her, but suddenly lost his focus. He wasn't just fighting her, he was fighting Weiss too. He stopped shooting at her to fire in some other direction. To Nanami it looked like he was shooting at nothing, but in reality he was aiming for Weiss now.

This was her chance.

Weiss took care of the bird noise first. Anything that could be hit by Joe's bullets was positioned where it would be shot. The real problem was that rifle of his. One shot from that sniper rifle and you'd be erased. Tough little bastard, but Joe had a weakness. His ranged power was far greater than his melee. Once Weiss got close Joe had to stop shooting at Nanami and aim at him.

Fun fact about Shockwave, it hurts. But Joe was taking the hits like a man. It's true they hurt, but honestly Weiss' could use a little more oomph in his psych. He kicked and flurried around Joe, who was carefully avoiding what could be avoided and taking the weaker blows. He one gun focused on Weiss and the other seemed to be shooting nowhere. That must have been Nanami. If he wasn't focusing on her, that meant he had an opening. Weiss took advantage of this opening. Nanami was about to hit him at the same time.

"Opportunist little piss aren't we?" Joe said.

Nanami was in her zone and while he was distracted with Weiss she came up to him and hit him with her notebook. Unlike her other shots, this hurt. It hit hard enough to send him skidding. Nanami had a lot more power in her melee attacks, but when she attacked it let her open to counters. Joe noticed and shot her a few times with a pistol. He had a lot more stamina than most reapers, hell in terms of combat Hawkeye might have been officer class. Or on his way to be officer class.

"Bulls-eye."

Nanami took two shots to the stomach. The force of the blows was enough to tear skin off. But not only did it not tear her skin off, it didn't damage her body or clothes. She was a player, all damage done was taken to the soul. The physical appearance of a player was a sign of how much soul energy they had left. Nanami had some energy left, but she didn't want to get hit by many of those. She blocked the rest with her notebook. She looked at where she got hit to double check. Wow, normally there'd be a hole in her stomach.

"Rifle reloaded. Welcome to the down under, here's your lead!"

He pulled out his sniper rifle, not to shoot it, but to beat Weiss off him. Weiss took a blow after hitting him with a full Shockwave combo. This bastard just wouldn't quit. He zipped over to Nanami and kicked her in the direction of Weiss. Why kick her? That didn't do very much damage, it just positioned herself where Weiss was, oh no. He was putting them close together so he could shoot them both.

"Two birds with one bullet!"

He pointed that sniper rifle at them and fired. The blast radius was huge, it was about as big as Kariya's best shot. And Kariya was known for his big shots. Although other reapers had something Joe didn't. Other reapers could sync with one another like players. They could get help. Okami and Joe couldn't sync with anyone. They were strong, but they fought alone. Joe's power went into that shot and it wore him out. Had he been with another reaper, he might have actually hit them. But the problem was he was alone. He couldn't corner them, he could only graze them.

Joe exhaled, he wasn't going to get by without pulling all the stops. These two needed to die. He needed to kill them even if it meant revealing his full power. Officer class reapers had noise forms. So did Joe. He had a Noise form and he was going to use it. He summoned more Noise and rather than just letting them attack the players he absorbed them. "I learned this trick from the Conductor. It's over, mate."

While he was changing forms Weiss did a very smart thing, he used a healing psych. "Get ready. Did he hit you with his bullets?"

Nanami nodded, "I took two to the chest."

Weiss sounded intrigued, "The healing pin should help... did it blow your shirt off?"

Nanami rolled her eyes, "Calm down Mr. hopeful pervert."

Weiss chuckled, "Oh no I would never hope such misfortune crossed your path."

Nanami didn't believe him for some reason.

They were healed up and ready for the real problem. Joe's Noise form.

Take a good look at the beast from down under." Said Hawkeye who started to take visible form. The static cleared and he was a giant boar noise. "Don't really like it… Can't hold my rifle while I'm in it…" The Reaper wings extended and folded around his body making a type of ribcage. Gritted teetch and metal tusks. Raw strength and raw power. And yes, there was no way he could hold a sniper rifle while being a 15 foot tall boar noise. It's shoulders were broad and the tusks were tattooed with symbols. Before Weiss could examine the monster further it went charging at them. Not a fast charge, but it definitely packed a whollup.

"I didn't figure he was strong enough to have a Noise form. We may be in trouble."

Apparently the excessive Australian fit the bill enough. He definitely had a Noise form. Nanami made a comment, "At least we don't have to worry about the sniper rifle."

There was a squeal that was so loud and so fierce it stunned Weiss and Nanami from moving. The sound was imprisoning them. The super Noise opened it's mouth to fire an energy blast equivalent to that of his rifle. They couldn't move fast enough to get away. One odd thing. Weiss and Nanami could see one another now. They were in the same zone! "Nanami!" Weiss called out and kicked her.

She at the same time smacked him lightly with her notebook. They both went flying in the direction their partner hit them. They both dodged the attack. Then the boar charged them. It swiped with it's tusks and kicked with it's legs. They had to move as it thrashed around. They both started launching volleys of ranged attacks at Hawkeye. He couldn't dodge being that big. He wasn't fast either. But he could swing those tusks fast enough to kill. It aimed to kill.

"Stay together!" Nanami called out getting near Weiss. They had to stay together or else there'd be no way to dodge the squeal / mouth blast. They hit it with more and more ranged attacks. If Joe took hits well, this thing didn't even notice them. They needed something big to take it down. When it squealed they dodged using the same trick as before only this time both of them kicking their feet together and pushing off.

That's when Weiss did something really brave. He jumped OVER the Noise. Then started launching volleys of blasts. The boar was too slow to turn in time. Weiss jumped over it again and shot it with more bolts. It was whittling damage. Nanami finished a picture, finally. Then hit him with a larger attack.

"You're a boar, Joe. You can't attack if I stay above you."

That's when Hawkeye did something surprising as Weiss repeated the same jump action. He shifted into his human form and pointed his pistols right at Weiss. "You can't dodge midair either." Joe Hawkeye had Weiss right where he wanted him. He fired the two guns and unloaded three bullets each into Weiss while he couldn't avoid it midair. "Bulls-eye."

Nanami didn't take that crap. She hit him with her notebook and sent him flying. He had a lot less defense in his human form. Although he was still pretty sturdy. Then after he got hit he shifted into the boar noise form again. He let out a squeal where Nanami couldn't move and then charged her. The skull hit Nanami and sent her flying to into a building. He would have blasted her more with his mouth if Weiss hadn't have hit his face with sonic rings that although couldn't stop him from firing. It did however hit the boar's head at an angle where the blast missed Nanami entirely. That's when the monster charged into Weiss and knocked him into a building. That's when Weiss noticed something. Hawkeye was exhausted. Every single one of those shots cost a ton of energy. He was tired. If ever there was a time to use the fusion pin, well this was it.

"Nanami! Merge your soul and imagination with mine!"

She did and the results were spectacular. Weiss started glowing blue the same color as when the pact was made. Nanami was glowing gold. Her power went into Weiss and it took the color blue. Weiss had a gold colored energy and now it was hers to use. Rather than each sending the energy at him Weiss had an idea. Nanami and he agreed on it without exchanging words. Their thoughts were merged for a single moment. All of their power went into Nanami's notebook. Both of them lost their glow, but the notebook was a different matter. It was shining and it got even brighter when Nanami opened the book. When it opened Joe Hawkeye knew it was over. "No... this can't be how it ends. I won't die here! I can't die here!" He tried to escape, but he was pulled in to the notebook's light. That's when his picture appeared on the notebook page. Nanami whipped out her pen and lashed the pen across his picture. With every pen stroke it cut Joe while he was in some sort of prison. Every stroke was faster and every strike was painful. That's what their fusion did. It sucked up whoever got caught in it and then they appeared on a page in Nanami's notebook. Obviously it couldn't hold them forever, but it could hold them long enough for Nanami to slash across them with her pen. It was an effective combo. If she put a pen mark on the picture, it actually cut them in their prison. Joe was cut about fifty times before the notebook spat him back out in an energy blast. He had cuts all over him and he looked terrible. But he was alive. He couldn't fight anymore. They just beat a Reaper.

"Tough… Tougher than me. You got class, mate. You too, love."

Weiss glared at him, "It's over for you. You will answer for killing players in order to make yourself stronger as a Reaper."

Hawkeye slowly rose to his feet and said. "I'm beaten, but I'm not dead. A good sniper always has a place to hide. Before you know it you'll be in the land way down under... And I don't mean the outback. Even if you win this game... Sometime later I might come back and take my vengeance. I can shoot you just as easily as I shot that there bird. I got enough strength left to run, but you? You're both empty. I'll run and be back."

The reaper stood up and grinned, "You both don't have the strength to follow me… It's over." That's when a barrier appeared in front of Weiss and Nanami. He made an illegal barrier. "The barrier will fall in a few dozen minutes, but plenty of time for me to escape. You don't got enough juice to break it."

Joe Hawkeye grabbed his gun started to trot away and Weiss told him, "You can't run away from judgement."

Joe pointed at Weiss and told him off, "You are in no position to judge me… or anybody. You're right though, I had no right to kill you... but then what right does a snake have to kill a rabbit? None! It's all just for living another day, mate. I killed her to become strong and survive. I'll survive."

The reaper turned to walk away, but that's when he noticed someone was standing in his way. "Another irritation? Well nothing a barrier won't fix." He made a barrier between him and the person standing in his way out. "If you can't go east or west, go north or south." He started to walk in another direction when he realized something. There was a red barrier blocking his way. He turned around to walk the opposite direction and there was another barrier. He tried punching the barrier but it burned. It actually burned, fire on his fist and all. He let out a yell and fell to his knees.

That's when he got a good look at the person watching them. It was a black and red suited man. It was Charon. "You cannot break that barrier. Try as you may, you are but a Reaper."

Joe glared in the direction of the suited man. "You made this barrier, right?! If you die, then the barrier dies. Do us all a favor!" He pointed his rifle at Charon, "Drop dead!" Apparently Joe had enough energy for one last shot. It was pretty impressive. But Charon merely raised a hand the blast just bent around him. His gloved hand crackling with red electricity. The attack did nothing to this guy. Nothing. Joe was horrified, no one could do that. Not even the Conductor. "You aren't a reaper. Who are you?"

Charon answered for what it was worth, "You have been tried and found guilty. You have confessed to your crime. Reapers who break the rules are subject to termination. Your life is forfeit and the dye cast."

Joe repeated the question, "Who the bloody hell are you?! You're... are you an angel? Yes, I heard you existed! You work for the Composer!"

Charon took off his glasses and revealed red slit eyes. They were the eyes of a monster. "I may work for the angels, but do not mistake me for one. I am no angel. No, I come from a place you call hell. It is the lowest of planes. Your Composer does not protect you from me. There are Players, Conductors, Composers and Producers. I am none of these. My profession is Security. A much needed job in this dying city. I am sent when rules are broken. I am not sent to negotiate. My name is Charon, the ferryman. I am a demon. A force Shibuya has not yet known."

Joe Hawkeye made a barrier in front of Charon.

Charon didn't seem to care. He walked into the barrier causing the whole thing to shatter. As it shattered it changed into a red color. Then it put itself back together as Charon passed. Joe had never been afraid of someone this much before. The fear made him sick. This guy had dark aura and the power was beyond human. It was more likely that the Composer would show mercy. As Charon walked forward he continued to talk. Not for friendly conversations sake, he sounded more like a cop reading a prisoner his rights. "You are to be executed here and now. You will be permanently removed from this game and judgment passed on your soul upon erasure."

That's when the area started shaking. The Noise in the area fled. All over Shibuya you could feel something ominous. Reapers turned their heads and Joshua knew what was happening. Inside Joe Hawkeye's little prison was smoke and flame. Charon was summoning his own Noise. These weren't normal Noise by any standard. These Noise couldn't possibly exist under normal circumstances. It was something only Charon could summon. "Face the Fallen." Charon said as he summoned a smoke dragon Noise. It's negative energy matched that of hell. It was the kind of Noise that wasn't meant to be killed. Charon was a demon and like the Noise he drew his power off of negative emotion. But unlike the Noise Charon's source wasn't his surroundings. He fed from the fires of hell. Hawkeye wouldn't have stood a chance even if he were at full strength. The Fallen Noise devoured him. He let out a final scream before black flame and red smoke ended him.

He fell to the ground, burned and dead. His soul was gone and his body barely remained. The barriers vanished. Including the one Hawkeye made trapping Weiss and Nanami. That's when Nanami felt the terror once again. Only her previous fear didn't have reason. She was right to be afraid. This wasn't a human, this was Charon. The aura of negative energy wasn't from this world, it was from the underworld. Even Weiss had a disgusted look on his face when he saw that Fallen Noise. Then Charon approached Nanami, but kept his distance, "Nanami Haruka. The Composer will be informed of your cause of death and it will reflect upon his decision to bring you back to life. Continue the game and move along."

The moment Charon said the words 'move along'. Nanami spaced out with a blank expression. Weiss himself just nodded and walked away. Nanami left towards the coffee shop. They snapped out of a trance the moment they were out of sight of Charon. "What did he just do to us."

Weiss shook his head, "An imprint. One that makes you leave. He's done that before. It's stronger than any imprint I know. It's activated by words. He said 'move along'. That must have been it."

Kotori was outside and only managed to see the end of what happened. "What happened? What was that?! Who was that?!" Never had she been so terrified. It wasn't because she was actually afraid of dying or being erased. It was because that aura was so sickening. She felt it from a distance and the only person who seemed to not be bothered by it was the Conductor. All the other Reapers were scared.

The Conductor didn't really give a satisfying answer, he kept working on his junk heap, "Security. He erases anyone who breaks the laws set by the game. Even officer Reapers don't stand a chance." Sho finished his project and left. This explained a lot now. Why Joshua was behaving himself now. Charon had enough power to fight him dead on, maybe even beat a Composer. Well... there was no way to be sure. The Composer was a lesser god. Kotori was surprised she even considered something could face off against the Composer. But what was it he said? Security? If the name was any suggested, he was the guy who escorted people out of the building. His only job could be beating people up.

Charon was gone from the street now and walking down an alley. He pulled out his phone and spoke into it, "Target erased. Your orders?" He listened and nodded. "Understood I'll inform the Composer of the situation."

Joshua appeared to Charon, "I saw most of it. But I did have some questions for you."

Charon was fairly respectful when speaking to the Composer, "I will answer what I can."

Joshua cut to the chase, "Who was that player down there?"

Charon blinked once and half answered, "Nanami Haruka. She was killed by one of your Reapers. Consider appropriate amends for her."

Joshua rolled his eyes, "I know about her, it's her partner I'm interested in. His name?"

Charon didn't answer immediately. He thought about his answer before he said it, "His name is Weiss. He is the one who made Hawkeye confess his crime. I don't know what details about him you want."

Joshua smirked. He got his name. It was Weiss was it? That was the same player Hanekoma asked him to spare. Yes, there was something going on and Joshua thought about the situation. "An ordinary player beating a Reaper. Hawkeye was strong. It would take a player of impressive skill to defeat him."

Charon only nodded, "Is that all?"

Joshua wanted to see what else he could milk out of Charon, "How did he get Hawkeye to talk? No, let me rephrase the question... Who does Weiss work for?"

Charon didn't answer. "I am not allowed to say. If you wish to inquire further I suggest you talk to him yourself."

Joshua chuckled, "Don't worry, I intend to. I have other business to attend to."

Charon gave him a single warning, "Although you are the Composer and I am to follow your commands. If you are caught breaking the rules, I will have no choice but to erase you. I am prepared to do this."

Joshua waved a hand, "I don't think you'll need to worry. I'm not breaking any rules and even if I did I certainly wouldn't fight you. I have far too many reapers who'd be willing to betray me for my position. I may be able to handle you, but I wouldn't be able to handle my disgruntled reapers. Anyway... I need to go visit some old friends."

XXX End Day 5- Come to Me XXX

**Question of the Chapter: Who do you think is going to be the main villain of the story? Theorycraft. It's fun.**

Author's notes:

I know it's not really in the handbook to apologize to people reading your story, but I apologize for the many plot points thrown at you at once. I feel that if a character would say something. They will. I'm afraid that I may be incapable of controlling the characters, but I do control the actions that guide them to do or say certain things. For example I can't make Weiss and Nanami be lovey dovey if it they really wouldn't be. I won't make characters fight if they really wouldn't. But it's all about the actions that force characters to make tough choices. This is just how I feel and thus they dropped a lot of bombs and I didn't really see a way to put it in a way that wasn't plot overload. Rest assured the next mission will also have plot twists, but not nearly as many. I still need help and I'm getting some. Thank you all for your support. Again if you have any questions or comments write a review about it. If you want to contact me my email cannot be written directly in the story forum. The email is theworldendswithyoutoo(at symbol) and I wish I could just write the real thing but I'm sure it's there to prevent website advertisement. Thank you all for sticking with it thus far. Almost to the end of the week.

02/17/13 update:

I changed things up a little bit. The overall plot is the same, but I think it's of higher quality. I will continue to edit the first week chapters until they are up to par. Then I will probably go back to working on my book. This place was perfect for practicing to become an actual writer. People's opinions are an additional source of information. Which... is why... you should... COMMENT!

/ hiss

But seriously thanks for reading.

Comment or no 0er0 cookie for you!

-0er0


	6. Week One, Day Six: Bond with Me

Author's notes: Sorry for being gone for so long and I've made a few changes to my format. It should be a smoother process by next story because I stopped posting music. I found that no one was actually listening to it. If any requests to turn back on music pop up, I'll act quickly. For now enjoy the story. I put a lot of work into this and I thank you for reading thus far. -0er0

This chapter has been updated. Hopefully fanfiction graciously accepts the format.

Week 1, Day 6: Bond with me

Nanami was normally a morning person. In the past she'd always wake up before anyone else. She had to learn to have her mind sharp as early as possible too. It was up to her to plan events and figure out where everyone was supposed to b e. It was up to her to make sure that everyone that she worked for had perfectly timed schedules. But what was odd is that week, she woke up every morning with the thought wishing she hadn't gone to Shibuya, then maybe her parents would talk to her. The wish got stronger and stronger the more she was there. Why she woke up every day with that thought, she couldn't guess. Now if Nanami was a morning person Weiss either didn't sleep or he always woke up first. Because he apparently had time to bring her coffee while she slept. The smell of morning coffee woke her and she had to wonder how long he had been awake. She always passed out not long at the end of the mission. Weiss was always up first and always went to sleep last. How he managed that, Nanami would wonder when she had time. For now she had more important things to worry about like why there wasn't a mission.

"Do we have a mission?" Nanami asked Weiss while grabbing the cup of coffee he offered. It was a nice warm cup, not piping hot like it usually comes out he walked a little so it cooled down a little.

Weiss would speak in the soft friendly tone as always, "No mission. I don't know when we'll be getting one."

Weiss sat down next to his partner and they both sip on the coffee. He got a look at Nanami's face. She was looking at Shibuya differently now. Maybe it was the shock of yesterday? Or maybe it was the fact that Shibuya was changing? Really Shibuya was changing just as much as the people in it. Nanami was murdered in Shibuya. But even if she hadn't been what Weiss said was true. People were in the business of being phony. Weiss must have been crazy, but at least he wasn't phony. He spoke true a lot. Although she wasn't the lying type, it was true that he price made her lie to herself. Her price was a lie, nothing more. Elaborate and life changing, but a lie. It took killing her killer to realize how great her life was. She sighed it took her until now to realize it.

Weiss looked at her and read her like a book. Although the fact he asked proved him not a mind reader, "You thinking about the past?"

Nanami looked at him and smirked, "That obvious?"

Weiss motioned toward the spot she died, "A lot has happened to you. You earned some time to think. I think I could use a little too."

Nanami gave him a curious glance, "What are you thinking about."

Weiss had trouble explaining feelings. Logic with him came easy, but feelings. No. "I hated Shibuya when I came here. It disgusted me. I see Noise everywhere and I see people who made them everywhere. But... I don't know why... but I... I don't know. Right now I feel calm. It might just be the morning... but I feel a calm I can't explain."

Nanami raised an eyebrow, "Did you really hate Shibuya that much?"

Weiss gave a quick nod, "It was a mix of hatred and disgust. I don't feel it anymore. I've been here for six years and I hadn't changed in the least. I learned all about Shibuya, but now I question if I know anything at all. It's humbling."

Honesty again, but as usual Nanami didn't understand. It didn't always make sense what Weiss said. But right now that didn't matter. He had things he was thinking through as well. Nanami really had to question if she had changed. She did. She wouldn't be the same after she came back to life. That's when she smiled. The thought of coming back to life and seeing her friends again made her smile. Shiki and her friends were so welcoming when she came to Shibuya. She got a job right under Neku and really admired the guy. Seeing them all again would be nice. This time she wouldn't have regrets. She'd be happy to be alive. She wouldn't question what could have been. She was happy now. Nanami made the right choice. She took her dream job and was living the dream. She gave an affirmative look at Weiss, "I can't remember the specifics, but when Joe died the headaches stopped. I don't feel pain anymore."

Weiss frowned and looked forward, "You were really brave, facing your death like that. What happened to Hawkeye is nothing short of justice. You confronted him and you defeated a Reaper. Few can say they did something like that. Charon is a demon and yet this time you didn't show your fear."

Nanami corrected Weiss, "I did show fear, just... it didn't scare me as much."

Weiss noted, "You've matured."

That was odd hearing from a boy younger than her, "Well... you weren't scared of Charon either. You weren't scared at all."

Weiss frowned, "That's a bad sign. I should be scared of Charon. It's not healthy that I am not. That's a sign that I have much to learn. Charon is a chained monster that was sent here six years ago. He's a monster as strong as a Composer. I don't know if even Joshua could take him. But from what I gather, he can't attack unless someone broke some rules. For us that's protection. Reapers and the Composer will have to watch themselves."

Charon was Security. It was a title that in the real world was given to people who had enough power to throw someone out of a building. Translate that into Soul and Charon fit the bill. Security wasn't a rank above Composer or Producer. He probably was still technically under them. He might even take orders, but he might be able to beat them up in a straight fight. It was a scarey thought.

Nanami noticed some things in his comment. Six years? As strong as the Composer? How come Weiss knew that? Did Weiss even know why he knew? Probably not. Weiss had more issues remembering his past than she did. It wasn't that he was lying. Weiss didn't even seem capable of lying. He didn't know how. He always told the truth, but he left out lots of information. Enough to make anyone suspicious, "I'm glad you're my partner. I wouldn't have made it through the week without you?"

Weiss was curious, "What do you mean?"

Nanami remembered the times he saved her. "The first couple of days, I would have died without you. I would never have had the chance to see my killer. I couldn't have survived Joe or even the first day without you. You saved my life many times and don't think I'll forget that."

Weiss found that odd, "We're partners, Nanami. Why wouldn't I save you?"

Nanami reminded him, "Back at day three you could have let me die and just picked out another partner. But you threw away everything to save my life. Even if just for a moment." That's what made her kiss him back then. She wasn't doing it again any time soon, but she still felt grateful. Weiss was changing, on the first day he would have just let her die. He might have even been able to laugh afterward. That thought still scared her. But she looked past it. Weiss had changed a little over these six days.

Weiss looked at his phone and started telling Nanami something off topic, "You might be more comfortable the less you know about this game and the angels. The more I learn about the way things work in the spiritual world, the more I feel distanced from reality. Maybe that's why my memory is flunky. I must have seen something on top of Pork City that changed me."

That reminded Nanami about Pork City. Her head looked at it in the distance. She could feel how thick the Noise were from here. It could make you shiver.

Nanami told him, "The more you understand about something the less you fear it, right? Maybe you understand more than me."

Weiss nodded at that and looked at her, "I think that might have something to do with it..." Weiss paused a while then told Nanami something, "Neku Sakuraba. You knew him didn't you? Shiki is his wife isn't she?"

Nanami had to correct, "Fiance, they're getting married some time this year."

Weiss tried to figure some of this out, "Well there was a game six years ago. It's the same time Charon showed up. Joshua was playing a game whether or not he would destroy the city. It was the Composer versus the Conductor. Neku was the game proxy. He was the determining factor in all of it. The Conductor broke a lot of rules to erase Neku. The game must have infuriated the angels. The angels must have sent Charon here in response. Also... well they might have done some other things. Particularly to Joshua and Hanekoma. They're the highest ranking figures in the city so they're likely to take the bulk of the blame for what happened. Neku defeated the Conductor back then. It seems unthinkable... a player beating a Conductor. Forcing a Conductor to unleash his full might and ultimately failing. The Composer casually watched back then. Maybe he was trying to avoid some greater disaster."

Nanami seemed perplexed, "A greater disaster than destroying Shibuya?"

Weiss nodded, "I need to ask him why he intended to do that. The Composer isn't stupid. You can't be one for very long if you are. Joshua is one of the most capable Composers there has ever been. He wouldn't do it for no reason or just because he was in a bad mood. There's a reason." Weiss looked up at Pork City. "I think that place has something to do with it."

Nanami couldn't disagree. "There's a massive amount of Noise up there in the sky. Well regardless of why Joshua wanted to do it, it's six years. We've survived six years later. So why destroy it back then?"

Weiss didn't know, "I don't know. But the angels are a force to be reckoned with. Hanekoma is an angel. He isn't human. He's stronger than a Conductor by himself. Much stronger. He's the second most powerful thing in the city, second only to the Composer. And as far as knowledge goes, he far surpasses the Composer. To the point where the Composer often speaks to him for advice or to develop new spiritual tools to run the game."

Nanami was impressed, "I had no idea..."

Weiss frowned, "Neku know this too. Neku is one of the few people capable of saving this city now. I'm wondering if I should help him."

Nanami stopped him, "Of course you should help him."

Weiss shook his head, "I don't know if it's something so simple... If Joshua was willing to destroy Shibuya to get rid of the problem... then there may be no way of saving this place. Not just Shibuya either. Japan is probably at risk. The only reason you'd be willing to destroy Shibuya, the fashion district of Tokyo, would be to save a larger number of lives. Maybe that's what Joshua was trying to do back then?" This was all theorycraft and unconfirmed, but it sounded legitimate. If what Weiss said was true, than he probably wasn't wrong.

Nanami noticed, "You knew that back then? You went up to Pork City to investigate... whatever was up there killed you."

That's when Weiss stared at the floor. Holy crap! That must be what happened. Whatever he saw damaged his memory and killed him. That's the only thing that made sense right now. "I hope you aren't right." Weiss said. "I hope I just died from something ordinary."

Nanami didn't want to worry him further, "Let's focus on the mission."

A familiar voice approached and with it a familiar voice. Kariya Koki, the reaper with a lolipop and a smile on his face that said it was time to talk. He wasn't the type to start a fight anyway. Although he was an officer class Reaper and a considerable threat step above Okami. "Hey there kids. Great work with Joe Hawkeye, already we're getting results. That guy was competition we didn't need. I was just wanted to cheer you guys on for your impending success." He pointed at them with a lolipop.

"We try." Weiss said with a smirk. He had a better poker face than Nanami. "You have something for us? A present?" Yeah he definitely had a poker face. Nanami didn't. Nanami was on her obvious guard.

Uzuki showed up behind them smooth as silk. Nanami didn't sense her and Weiss wouldn't have turned around in time. She was sneaky for a pink reaper. "You would be so lucky. We're just here to pass along some information, nothing illegal."

Weiss found that amusing, "Of course not, you're being watched now."

Uzuki scoffed, "We're going to tell you what we know about the mission or just enough to let you know how to win. The less we tell you the better."

Nanami rolled her eyes, "The more you tell us the better."

Kariya stopped the argument, "Ladies! Cool it." He twirled his lolipop and looked at Weiss. "Okami's never lost. But he's never had real opponents like you before. You guys are the only ones who are going to stand a chance today. Guess what today is?"

Weiss and Nanami answered at exactly the same time, "Day six."

Uzuki repeated, "Day six."

Kariya explained the details, he was good with details. "Okami has been cooking up a batch of Noise just for you, he always does. He's had plenty of time to make em, he made sure he wasn't busy the last couple of days so you can make sure you're finished."

Weiss made it clearer to Nanami, "He's sending modified Noise at us. There's only a select few reapers who can do something like that. Sho, Hanekoma and the Composer are the only ones I can name. You're saying Okami can do that?"

Kariya bite down on his lolipop. "He's can do it, he's just not as good as them. Sho was just starting when you met him, the Conductor's gotten a lot better since you last met him. Now luckily you're not up against him, if you were you'd need a small army of Reapers. You're up against Okami, he's no Conductor, but he's got modified Noise and he's sicking them on you tonight."

Weiss rolled his eyes, "You're not telling us anything that actually will help."

Uzuki had something that will help, "Okami has his favorite puppy leading the Noise. It's a blue wolf noise. If you kill that he looses the mission. Kill that thing and your mission is over. You gotta find it and take it out. Knowing this will give you an edge. Use it to cut down those Noise."

Nanami looked at Weiss, that was a juicy piece of information. Take out a strong Noise and the mission would be over. Not so hard.

Kariya had another thing to tell him, "Another thing. There's another player you'll need to team up with to win. Well... at least it wouldn't hurt your chances. You got some time to find him. If you recruit him you're all set to kill Okami. And that means you get brought back to life and we get our least favorite Reaper out of the way. Everybody wins."

Uzuki commented, "Except Okami."

Kariya put another lolipop in his mouth, "Screw him, he made me do too much work as it is."

Nanami asked an important question, "How do we find the player?"

Kariya stared walking away, "From what I hear he's hanging around Dogenzaka."

Weiss asked another important question, "How do we get him to join us?"

Uzuki vanished just as quickly as she came and Kariya had some last parting words, "I'm sure you'll handle everything just fine. Be sure to finish off Okami, then we'll be square. That player is a... special case. But get his help and it'll be a cakewalk. Game poxy makes the rules. We gotta follow them just like you do. There's no barriers up today and there's no other reapers to worry about. We told you what you need to know. Now go find that blue haired player and stop talking. I'm going to have a soda."

Kariya left differently than Uzuki. He didn't vanish right away, he did a backflip first. THEN he vanished.

Weiss started to do some thinking. "Convincing a player to help us shouldn't be too hard. We all need to complete the mission."

Nanami looked around, "I'm not really sure we should trust them. They'll wouldn't want us talking later, right?"

Weiss gave that some thought and ultimately disagreed, "No... right now they want us to live. They genuinely do want Okami dead. They'd erase us afterward. Honestly they won't have the chance."

Nanami looked where Weiss was looking, she didn't see anything, "Why not?"

Weiss sensed someone. Nothing but a gut feeling, really. Someone else was watching. "That's because we're being tailed and they can't be caught doing anything illegal."

Nanami didn't notice anyone, "Who's tailing us?"

Weiss had no way of knowing for sure. In fact he had no evidence that anyone was tailing them at all, "The Conductor maybe? Another officer? We're being watched and I don't know what they find interesting about us."

Weiss was right about them being tailed, but he was wrong about it being the Conductor or a Reaper. They were being watched and they were being watched by Joshua. The Composer seemed to have taken an interest in this game. "So... he's Weiss? He might just work." Joshua said looking right at them, but they couldn't see or sense him. A Composer could stand right in front of them and they wouldn't see. It seemed that white haired kid was the one he was hearing so much about. Joshua knew who he was. He saw what no one else could. "So you're the one Hanekoma and Charon were told to keep quiet about? Well... I'd say you'll do just fine." Joshua had a few ideas of what to do with him. He had a few weaknesses he could exploit. What Joshua intended to do, only Joshua could know.

XXXXXXXXXX

The number of buildings in Shibuya varied depending on the area. In the center of the city there were monstrously sized buildings that covered entire blocks. The buildings next to them were slightly smaller but each serving a purpose. Darklit Entertainment stood above the rest in the distance. A blue haired boy wearing an unbuttoned shirt stood staring at the towering citadel. He scoffed as buildings in different sectors were being bought out. One of his favorite Ramen shops was closed down. They offered big money to the guy and he bent over on one knee to a bouquet of money like every other store in Dogenzaka. They didn't have any shame or originality. To the blue haired player it seemed like the weak were being devoured by the strong inevitably joining the mindless hive. Shibuya was never meant to be a united place. It was meant to be full of different creeds and values all competing, not one ruling over them all with an iron fist. He spit on the floor as he could see that one store still wasn't bought out by Darklit entertainment. He knew what would happen if that one store was bought. Dogenzaka's small shops and stores would be torn down. They were already either bought out or out of business. Then Darklit entertainment would make some sort of new store that would thrive as they always did. This bothered the blue haired player, but everyone else walked through him like a ghost, that was the way of things.

"Only one store left." Said he, with his shirt unbuttoned and a silver trinket dangling from his neck. He leaned against a wall and looked at the sky. It was blue like his eyes and hair. To his surprise he noticed someone who worked for Darklit Entertainment. Definitely in the marketing department. The suit said it all. Black and white, the same color as the reapers and the same color as his enemies. He didn't like Darklit entertainment or suits, not anymore. Next to the suited figure was one who didn't wear a suit but casual street clothes. They weren't normal, but somehow blended in. They weren't stand out but they were noticeable. And all sorts of other contracting statements that made everyone look at what he was wearing. Whoever wore it, knew how to make trends better than any prince.

"Do you have any ideas?" Neku said to Mokoto with an annoyed turn of the eyes.

Mokoto didn't wear his sleezy getup today, but took his more humble appearance. "Don't worry sir, I'm sure he'll listen to reason."

He had the ability to magically change his look from a sleezy suit to a humble looking small business owner. It wasn't even an act, he was both and he chose what side of himself to show. Neku just couldn't figure out how he could grow a goatee in a perfect sleezy way within 24 hours. Whatever, Neku brought his best gun this time. He'd own the store for sure. He just hoped he wouldn't throw up in the process. This store he was heading to had terrible taste. But he and Mokoto had to pull through, the always did.

Mokoto was the best at business and he could make anyone buy or sell and if he couldn't, Neku could. As it turned out it was a lot easier to deal with Mokoto. Mokoto was the good cop. Neku had no shame in making true threats and playing the bad cop. Neku bought some businesses just by telling them that if they didn't get out of his way or make their money. It was their choice. Neku's philosophy in the business world was to make his opponents join him or choke on raw Shibuya. Was Neku a villain? To some, yes. But really he understood the competitive nature of the fashion district. Neku made sure he was the one that couldn't be bought or sold. This was just another store to be bought. Usually the people who joined Mr. Sakuraba ended up doing the same thing they always did. Just they had more resources and a different logo. Usually a better Logo. Although Neku was smart enough to know when not to change something.

Mokoto approached the store entering and smiling with humble highlights on his face. "Hello sir, are you doing well?"

There was a loopy man who would let out his battle cry, "I ain't sellin!"

Mokoto's eyes shut with the unnerving response, "I'll take that as a no…"

The shopkeeper would say, "I only sell to people who are fly! Who have style! But you, you totally don't!" Mokoto looked at the many odd items in his store. Items that no one wanted nor needed. Old cords, old machine parts, old records, old wigs, old powdered wigs, old wigs made out of leather, old wigs made out of animal fur, old records you could put in your old wig, old cords you could try to make work with your old machine parts to get your old record player to work while wearing an old wig. Was that sentence too long? Yes.

Neku could only mutter one thing, "I already hate… this place."

The shop keeper glared as Neku dare not enter, it smelled of old. Not only that Neku had a sneaking suspicion that some of the wigs contained some kind of bio weapon which would kill anyone who smiled. Every time anyone entered this store, they frowned. Maybe it was because it was dusty and old.

Mokoto had to ask, "Is… that… household paint on a wig?"

The shop keeper kept up the yell, "I ain't sellin! You ain't fly! You totally ain't!"

Neku had a vein on his forehead, "Mokoto… make the deal so we can leave… now… I'm having suicidal thoughts being here." He couldn't help but wonder if there were some sort of bio weapon that devoured all willingness to live. Oh my god why would anyone come here?

Mokoto would cut it short, "Sir we'd like to purchase your store."

Neku chimed in, "And then burn it…"

Mokoto let out a light nervous laugh, "No sir, we really just want to purchase your store."

Neku stopped him there, "No, really… I'd burn it."

The smell of senile in the room could make you gag. "I only sell to folks with style! I have style! But you! You totally don't!"

Neku entertained himself with thoughts of strangling himself to death than to spend one more minute in the store.

There was one item Mokoto actually found interesting, "Oh! A gold moon charm! Does this have style?" Trying to learn what the elder man's fashion sense was. Mokoto started getting an idea.

"That moon has style! But you! You totally don't! I ain't sellin!" The man clearly wore a wig as it shook and Neku couldn't help but wonder if the hairball he wore contained a dead bird who tried to live in his hair but died due to suicide. Yes, another sentence that's too long! This place really sucked!

Neku had to leave, he hated this place more every second. "Mokoto, buy this store. I'm leaving."

The afro man spoke, "I ain't sellin!"

Neku wanted to bang his head against the wall, in fact he did. "Then take it off the market! It's for sale!" He scowled after the pain of hitting his head actually was LESS painful than listening to this frustrating man further.

"I'd sell it to someone with style! This store has it! But you! You totally don't!"

Neku didn't hear the rest because by this time he was sprinting somewhere. He really didn't care where just as long he didn't spend another moment of this personal hell. "ARGH!"

Mokoto would have to try to sell it himself. "Sir your store is on the market, and you're making no profit. You need to pay the bank or they'll close down your store. Also you need to pay plumbing and the electricity bill... Your lights aren't even on. What smells?"

The man said, "It's my groovy cologne. It's got style! But you! You totally don't!" Mokoto was going to be here a while. Oh well all part of the job.

Neku's luck only got worse. It was the one person who could potentially be more annoying than the store he was just in. Joshua stood with a hot pink button down shirt, "Hello Neku." Oh he was wearing that shirt just to leave himself open to gay jokes.

Neku raised an eyebrow as he had a sneaking suspicion that Joshua was wearing that shirt to somehow manage to look even more gay. Joshua looked young, exactly as Neku remembered. The age gap was Joshua's choice. He chose to appear as he did. This wasn't the first time he visited Neku.

Neku turned and began to walk away from Joshua, the Composer was nothing but trouble to talk to. "Neku… is that any way to greet an old friend. I thought we were partners once." Insinuating to listeners of course that they were gay lovers and not Game partners.

This annoyed Neku further and Joshua knew it would. He did this crap on purpose. "I'm not old and we're not friends. And regrettably we were partners in the reapers game… I still haven't forgot the entire reason I was there was your fault."

Joshua had a smug smile and looked to the blue sky, "You can't say though you didn't gain anything from it. Old memories aside, I came to ask if you've given any thought to my offer?"

Neku had a serious look on his face, "I thought about it, the answer's still no."

Joshua scratched the back of his head and frowned, "Well if that's how you feel. But I'm afraid I don't see any alternative you're the only one who could take my place."

Neku folded both arms and front of him and let loose a glare, "You haven't even told me why you want me to take your job."

Joshua chuckled and said, "Oh, I need to leave Shibuya. The city needs a Composer and where I'm going I don't think I could come back."

Neku shook his head, "As delighted as I would be to see you gone forever… I think I'll pass. Find someone else to be Composer. I'm getting married to Shiki and I don't want to be involved in any more of your games. You hurt a lot of people Joshua. You may be an old ally or even a friend, but I can't trust you again. You know that." Neku tried to leave.

Joshua wasn't through, he followed. "Neku, you know you'd be the best one for the job. You do all kinds of jobs already and I was hoping you could do a job for me."

Neku responded, "I don't do blowjobs."

Joshua chuckled and said, "I always hoped you would. Listen, I need your help Neku. You may not like me… we're in a love-hate relationship after all. But you love this city and you hate the Noise. And that should be reason enough for you to work with me on this. Just say yes."

Neku always did get annoyed by Joshua having more than one meaning in what he said. Also he couldn't help but suspect Joshua wasn't really gay sometimes, maybe he was willing to pretend to be gay just to bother Neku. Who while not a homophobe, did NOT like to be hit on. Joshua wasn't going to convince Neku even if he cut down on the jokes, "No."

Joshua turned to leave at that, "Still no? You won't do it? Well... that's a shame. Stay handsome." OK that settled it. He was gay. Or stepping up his game. Honestly he kept raising the bar, because Neku was getting used to the other stuff.

Neku had to cringe. Wait. Joshua just dropped it? Joshua never dropped it. Did he find a replacement? Neku could only hope. If it were just his life on the line it'd be fine. But once Neku became Composer it would change him forever. He wouldn't have time for anything, even Shiki. Shiki was his reason. He couldn't be Composer anyway. He didn't know the first thing about it. He just wanted to get married and hold her close. Joshua may give Neku the business. But he was still a friend. He still was looking out for Neku. One of the reasons he was so successful was because of Joshua's help. While Joshua was an ally, he had a tendency to betray his closest friends. He betrayed Kitaniji and he betrayed Hanekoma. What's more Josh killed him. He killed him back then, someone who had nothing to do with anything. He even considered blowing up all of Shibuya. Try as he might, Neku could never bring himself to trust Joshua fully again. Neku went for a walk and looked at the sky. The Noise symbol taunted him. "Damn..." He ignored it like he always did.

XXXXXXXXXX

Weiss and Nanami made it to Dogenzaka just in time to see Neku standing alone on the sidewalk thinking. Nanami looked around the area, "How will we find the player?"

Weiss had think a moment. "Well there's one way… but we'd attract noise."

Nanami didn't see much of a choice, "Alright how?"

Weiss told her, "Scanning. All we have to do is tap our player pin and every thought in the area will come flooding towards us. You'll have to filter out the thoughts of people and find the one person who's the player. If he's here, scanning would be the way to find him. The catch is… as thoughts come flooding towards us… so do noise. You'll need to be careful. Scanning can be dangerous but it's often necessary."

Nanami knew little about the mechanics of scanning or why what Weiss said was true. In the Underground it was possible to affect the living world, she knew that much. It was possible to read thoughts by scanning, but why did they have to fight Noise? Well it was partly because the Noise were thicker than they used to be. Scanning usually meant unavoidably ending up in a Noise battle. It was likely that they were going to have to fight to find this player.

Weiss looked at Nanami after pulling out his player pin, "Are you ready?"

Nanami gulped, but scanning would be the best way to find the player they were looking for. "Let's do it."

A blue aura shot around Weiss and it spread across the area. Like a sonar scan it washed over everyone in the area. With expert precision Weiss could spot one person that stood out from the rest. A player, one that couldn't be scanned. A good and bad sign. It meant he was special, but they couldn't read his mind. Weiss would open his eyes in a second and speak aloud, "I think that's Neku." He didn't know what was the give away. But that felt like Neku. Wait! How did he know that? Again he knew things he couldn't remember. He shouldn't know the first thing about Neku, but that was definitely him. The anti social personality and the iron will. The Soul power must have been him. Weiss was impressed. Neku was way stronger than Weiss and Nanami together.

Unfortunately they had no time to look, noise found them. The noise that attacked weren't particularly strong, but they were numerous. An odd assortment of different tattooed animals made their attacks. Weiss and Nanami easily outclassed them although there was someone in the area that outclassed them even more. That being Neku. Neku's head turned directly to where Weiss and Nanami were fighting. His eyes firmly locked on Nanami.

Neku could see them. His reaction was fast and on the wrist buttons of his shirt were pins. What kind of person walks around with player pins in the real world? Neku saw Nanami and didn't give two craps about Weiss. "That's Nanami." He said with certainty. There was no mistake who she was and she died a while ago to a random gunman. She made it to the Reaper's game.

The president of Darklit Entertainment wasn't one to ignore something in the Underground, especially when he knew one of the people. Neku reached into his pocket and pulled out a black skull player pin. He didn't wear that one, but he had it in his pocket. Touching it he met Weiss' scan. He sensed Weiss and Nanami. Both of which were fighting Noise, but not for long. Raising his hand black ice shot out of the ground impaling several noise. In the real world it looked like a drug addict. But in the Underground he looked like a battle god. Fireballs shot out of his palm at the enemy Noise and when one even dare to attack. The Noise didn't even get to even attempt to strike before black metal orbs barred his path. The Noise were slaughtered effortlessly.

Nanami was pretty sure who it was, but she had never seen him do this. Even if she had her memories, she had no idea her boss was this amazing. He had the power and the look in his eye said that could make a Reaper run scared. Neku mostly finished off the Noise for them. Every psych he used was colored black.

Neku seemed to have little interest in the monsters, his focus was on the two Players. "Nanami you made it?"

Weiss was amused, "You're surprisingly observant to take notice of players in the Underground. Here I thought I was the only person who could see them when I was alive. Thanks for being surprisingly strong with psyches."

Nanami knew what Weiss meant, "He's not a player. So how did you see us?" She had to know why her boss was capable of something like that? She couldn't remember her past enough to be sure.

Neku answered for her, "I was a player. Not anymore. I can't help you two long. It's probably against rules to help you more than I have."

Neku turned to leave before he got any more odd looks of talking to thin air. He pulled out a cell phone to act like he was talking to someone on the phone. He was really talking to them.

Weiss stopped Nanami from taking another step, "He's spiritually aware of the Underground. But that's very rare. We can't ask him for more help help." Weiss glanced around the area to see that there were no other signs of players about. Honestly there was supposed to be a blue haired player somewhere. That's who they needed to find. This was Neku. It was good to see the legend in person. Well maybe not a legend, but he was well known. "And the person we needed to ask for help left. He may not wish to be found."

Nanami found herself at a loss for words. What should she tell Neku? How much could she really say? "Mr. Sakuraba. Weiss, this is my boss."

Weiss already knew, but kept up a face. "Nice to meet you."

Neku skipped to the point, "Who are you looking for?"

Nanami wondered if Neku could really help, "Umm... a blue haired player. He's said to be a... uhh... 'special case'."

Neku knew who she was talking about. "He passed this way. But what do you need from Thanatos?"

Thanatos, that was his name. Weiss should remember that. "We were told to head this way and get his assistance."

Neku found that unlikely, "I've heard a lot about him. He's less social than I am. Not sure if he has a reason to help you."

Weiss noticed, "You know about one random player? Are you kept up to date about the game?"

Neku answered, "He's not going to help you. I noticed him a while ago. Focus on completing the mission yourself and you'll win."

Nanami already trusted Neku, "He knows more than the Reapers. We should take his word."

Weiss didn't object, "I'll take it as gospel. We're dealing with a powerful Reaper named Okami. We'll need to beat him to bring Nanami back to life."

Neku took a good look at Weiss for the first time. Something was off and you could tell it in Neku's expression. Something was very off about Weiss. Something that put even Neku on edge. Neku nodded at him but warily kept his guard up. Apparently he didn't trust Weiss at the sight of him. "Nanami is one of my better workers and she's a good friend of my fiance. I'll see if there's anything I can do to help. But for now... there's something I need to check." Apparently Neku had somewhere to be. Although Weiss wasn't stupid. It was the very instant that Neku saw Weiss that he left. He was going in the direction of Hanekoma. There were lots of questions Neku had for Hanekoma. Some questions were about Joshua, some were about Weiss, but most of all the Noise were the greatest concern. Hopefully Hanekoma had answers like he always did. "Finish the game and I'll ask what I can do to help. There's limits what I can do, but I'll find out the specifics."

How thoughtful, he was going to double check with Hanekoma how much he could help. It might not be much help, but if they got any aid, they'd be fools to refuse. Weiss didn't really have time for further questions after a phone vibrated. They were getting the mission. It was the middle of the day and already it was turning dark. "I think if we need to do any last minute shopping, now is the time." The sky turning black was a bad sign.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So to win. I need only erase 2 of the players…" Okami punched his hand. With a visibly pleased face his confidence was obivious, "I could easily have all three devoured… The wolves are ready to hunt. They need only the signal to begin. At your bark I attack. At the alpha's command I unleash hell." Okami was ready for the mission to begin.

The Conductor seemed to have the same idea, "There'll be no hidden variables this mission. It's a straightforward equation. Solve for X by simplification. Erase the extra numbers divide three by three until only one remains. X equals 1. One player left standing… and the game ends by rule of the Composer."

Okami let out a happy howl, "Who shall I hunt first?"

Sho grabbed the tip of his cap, "One of them is pointless to erase, consider him 0. He shouldn't even exist… It's 2 or 0 in this game and the blue radiant won't die by normal solutions. One cannot divide by zero, so for now we'll let him be. The equation is simple. Ignore the zero, he means nothing. The other two you should erase at the speed of 299,792,458 meters per second." This was the Conductor when he wasn't near Kotori, she translated the bulk of what he was saying. Sho had to use simple algebra when talking to Okami. It went above Okami for the most part. Sho basically said one of the players was immortal. Okami only had to erase Weiss and Nanami to win the game. Erase them at the speed of light. That's what he was saying. Okami got enough of it to know who to erase. The two brats who killed Hawkeye. That blue haired player could wait.

Okami knew next to nothing about math and he'd tell you as much, "I know nothing of numbers and science. I know only how to erase players. This I shall do. As a member of the pack I'll do my duty and those who oppose shall face my fangs. Those who run I shall sniff out and those who fight against me… will torn to shreds. Give the order! Let the dogs loose!"

Sho smiled and said, "Erase the tasteless tetrahedral! I don't give a digit when or how you do it. There's a decillion ways to die. Pick one."

And it took nothing more to make Okami begin. He howled in unison with his pet. "Time to do what I was bred to do… HUNT AND KILL!" With that his beautiful wolf noise and he rushed towards the remaining players. "Serenade! Let's go!"

**Week 1 Day 6**

_"____To make it through this moonless night: find the lone wolf. One shall run and the others shall hunt. We hunt for you. Fail and be erased."__ –The Reapers_

The blue haired player looked up as he could hear a howl across the entire city. It was odd, he'd never seen anything like it. "What should I call myself in this place?" He asked then shrugged wondering why name something that was dead. He was a player like any other, but he was different. The silenced echoed with the twin howls that cried out throughout Shibuya. The Underground felt different now. It was day time and already it looked like the sky was turning dark. The whole place was changing little by little. It looked like evening hours with a false moon above. The howling continued. It was like a pack of wolves begging their leader to let out one more bloodthirsty cry. You could tell the one wolf cry out from the rest. It was gorgeous and feminine. When the leader of the pack of wolves let out a cry all of Shibuya turned to night and a red moon floated above. It was daytime in the real world and it was nightfall in the Underground, weird. This was Okami's infamous day six. The day no one ever survived. One might ask what he was planning. But not this kid. This kid was Thanatos. He'd seen it all. He had nothing to be afraid of, "I dare you to kill me! I dare you to just try! I'll give you the first shot!" The boy cried out in the sky as if he wanted to cry from pain. His price was a hefty one.

In his outburst he was approached by a reaper. A gorgeous reaper who was known as Kotori. "So you're the third player… I take it they didn't find you?"

The blue haired player looked at her and asked, "Have you come to try to erase me? I dare you to try…" He was huffing as if the fact he wasn't dead yet made him angry.

How cruel his fate was. "You seek death. More than any reaper." Kotori said in a sad tone, "If you keep looking, you'll find death."

The blue haired player walked up to Kotori and looked her in the eyes. "You're a reaper… you got a death wish too? If you came here to try to erase me I welcome it."

Kotori smiled at that and played some fake glasses she happened to be wearing as well as a white one piece swimsuit. Over the swimsuit she wore shorts and a tank top. Her shoes platformed up to give her more height. She was naturally very short. Her purple eyes looked into his blue ones, "If you want to die… I know someone who can kill you."

Thanatos demanded to know, "Who?" He couldn't believe it.

Kotori put aside the fake glasses to get a better look in his eyes, "No player has survived this day… if you manage to keep the other two players alive… There's a white haired player among them, he can erase you. Okami is strong. Very strong. If he erases that white haired player, you'll find it unlikely to be erased any time soon. If you manage to get into combat with Okami, there's a chance for you to save the white haired player. The player you're looking for is named Weiss. If you can convince him to erase you, then you'll be erased." Kotori was lying of course, but it sure didn't sound like it of course.

The blue haired kid seemed to grin, "How'd you know what I wanted? Why should I believe you?"

Kotori could see into his heart and into his soul. His price was a cruel one, "Your soul cries out for peace. Your price won't let you have it. Find the reaper Okami. Kill him and then be joyfully erased. Don't miss this chance. No one has ever made it past day six… Okami is a powerful reaper, he may even be able to erase you himself with enough force. But other than the Composer, find that boy. Find him and he'll be happy to assist you." She turned her back and walked away with orange hair fluttering in the wind. She'd already done enough. What happened next was up to fate.

She looked up at the sky, "Now they'll need to survive. This day is particularly difficult to sabotage."

XXXXXXXXXX

Something was different. Weiss could tell inside store he was in. Something was very different. The boy looked to his partner who was busy getting changed into something that would be more effective to fight in. Or maybe it was just because she wanted to change clothes because she was dirty. They had plenty of money to spend so it was hardly an issue. It only took a look at the phone to know for certain that something was up with the mission. It was time for them to start the mission. As Weiss read it he closed the phone. "No time limit… Something's up. No player survived this day right?"

Nanami was getting dressed in the changing room, "Yeah? So we need to survive it right?"

The girl was done changing she wore a white button down shirt with what looked like a pink tie. It wasn't a men's tie it was one of those things Weiss had never bothered to learn the name of (Or the fanfic author). She wore tight shorts and over that a miniskirt. If she were wearing just one or the other she might have been in trouble in most western cultures. But she was wearing both so it kinda evened out and in Shibuya it seemed that there was a different standard of modesty anyway.

The girl looked at Weiss and asked, "How do I look?" As usual it was one of those trick questions. You had to be careful what you said. Weiss wasn't careful at all.

Weiss looked her up and down seemed to be visibly pleased by the knee socks (again ladies, knee socks are sexy. It's a candy wrapper for legs). "I like that look better than what you were wearing before. Suits you. You look adorable." Nanami would take that compliment, but wondered if Weiss would ever wear anything different from that jacket of his. At least he got a clean undershirt, but everything he was wearing was the same.

"So you still won't get changed?" Nanami sighed, this boy was hopeless.

Weiss shook his head happy to be wearing his jacket with two wings on the back. "Already did." The only he was wearing different was a clean undershirt and a different pair of shades. The gold color shades actually hid his eye color better. Odds are he still had his other glasses in his pocket.

Another sigh from Nanami. "Seriously you could do with a little variety..."

Weiss looked at his clothes and cocked his head, "You think so?"

Nanami nodded, "If you wear the same thing all the time it's... well... stale."

Weiss once again didn't get the expression. "Stale? Do clothes get stale? I wouldn't think so." He examined his clothing to see what was wrong with it. "They aren't even dirty. And I thought only food got stale."

Nanami rolled her eyes. Of course he didn't get the expression. "Boring. It's boring."

Weiss clapped his fist down on his hand in understanding, "Oh I see! You're saying that if I wear the same thing all the time it's boring. So what you're saying I should do is change my look every so often so it's not boring."

Nanami was getting through. "Yes."

Well maybe she wasn't. Weiss didn't seem to care, "Too bad. I'm not changing. I like this look."

Nanami ignored it and walked out the door. Clothes and pins were paid for. It was time to go.

Both of them walked outside and noticed something very different about the underground. It was night and they'd never seen it before. Why was it night now? Players usually woke up in the morning and fell asleep when their mission was over. They hadn't seen a mission at night before. Weiss looked and noticed that noise in the area, the night was effecting them. The noise were different than usual, they were differently colored and all of them had a silver glow in their eyes. They were all more feral than usual and they were definitely modified by something. The reapers mentioned that Okami had special noise, this must have been them.

"So this is what day six brings."

"These noise are stronger somehow, what do we do?"

Weiss happened a guess, "Fight or run. I'd say run. There's a special noise we need to erase, right?"

Although this was a good chance to see how the Noise were different. What was worse was the Noise cut off their escape routes so fighting their way out seemed to be erasing some Noise.

The first thing they noticed about these noise was that these Noise were flimsy. They died very easily. Nanami hit a bear with her notebook and it downright exploded. She hit a wolf, it also died instantly. Although it took a few pen strikes to kill them, they died pretty fast.

Weiss was getting similar results. These Noise weren't stronger or at least they didn't seem stronger. They were more feeble and died quickly. Then as more kept coming they finally noticed what was different: their speed. All of the Noise were faster. And when something is faster it hits harder. The birds that rushed by had a dashing blur effect. The bear Noise was running, yes running. It was swiping quickly too.

That and every time a Noise died another came running in to replace it. It was Noise battles on rush mode. They died faster, but so did you. All of the Noise attacked quicker and were better at dodging. Okami couldn't have modified THAT many Noise. He had to have some way of mass producing them. Or some way of turning normal Noise into these things. Sure they were easy to kill, but they were endless and they were their offensive power had increased. They sacrificed defense for pure offense. It was a good idea to run. They'd seen enough.

"Stop killing the Noise and run!" Weiss said.

Nanami agreed and started running. "What are we looking for?!"

Weiss wasn't really sure, "We're looking for their leader. They won't stop until the leader is gone. Move until we can find the leader!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Nightfall? Well that's new… not." Kariya often found himself unimpressed and today was no different.

Uzuki had a different way of looking at things. She often found herself upset at the fact she STILL didn't have her promotion. Which of course by all means she by now rightfully deserved. Reapers had a habit of promoting people who DIDN'T have pink hair. It was infuriating to her and hilarious to Kariya. He would never laugh out loud of course. But Kariya was a natural troll. He'd say things to piss her off just to see her get mad. She was funny to watch when she was mad. "So Uzuki you got any special tricks like this?"

Uzuki crossed her arms and huffed. "No, but neither do you or Kotori."

Kariya laughed, "We got our little tricks. Kotori keeps hers secret and I just plain don't try. Okami would make a hell of an officer if you gave him the time... Kinda makes you worry. No player ever made it through this… not one… Wonder if we should help the other kids out a little…"

Uzuki didn't have her outbursts. She found the whole thing impressive. Okami was better than she was, no question. If he had enough time he'd end up like Minamimoto. It made her wonder what she'd have to do to be strong, "I don't want to help players again… They should hurry up and erase Okami… or at least let me erase them. I hate being cheated out of points… and vacation days."

Kariya would point out, "Well I usually do the same things on my vacation days anyway… I hate working when I'm at work… And when I'm not at work."

Uzuki muttered, "When do you like to work?… Actually I don't think you ever work. You just pretend to." There was obvious bitterness there. Kariya was great and all, but he was lazy.

Kariya would rub his chin and suck on a lollipop. "Honestly people who take joy in their work need to work more than me… I can't figure out how work and joy go together in any way shape or form. Some things don't go together."

Uzuki made an interesting comment, "What about us?"

Kariya would question what he heard, "Eh?" Uzuki let out a sigh. He was being a coward and not answering. Pretending he didn't hear. She started to walk away before Kariya actually answered. "I think we go together quite nicely. You're hard working and energetic. I'm not. Got the whole little yin yang thing going."

He twirled the lolipop and Uzuki realized she was just as bad as he was. She pretended not to hear him. "I'm gonna look for Okami."

XXXXX

"No one would dare think to look for me here. This is the true place for a wolf to be. A lone wolf embracing the memory of an elder dog." Despite his keen knack for erasing players with ease, Okami could never hide very well. Or pick a spot the enemy wouldn't guess he'd be. Kotori proved that when approaching him. It didn't take long for her to find him. Okami had one obvious weakness that the Conductor didn't. Okami was predictable. She was concerned and curious how this new situation would play out. It was likely in the favor of Okami, her least favorite game master. "Okami, I have to ask you if this… Nightfall?… Will last long?" Kotori didn't really know what to call it in all honesty. The very nature of this ability gave her a headache. She looked at the white moon and dark sky. It was clearly unnatural in every way, and Okami's greatest trick. He didn't answer so she repeated. "How long will this nightfall last? Answer." He didn't want to tell her of course. He knew better than to tell her much.

Okami was a little too surprised he was found so quickly, "How did you catch my scent? How did you find me?" Clearly he didn't want to see Kotori today. She had troubling questions to ask.

Kotori pointed at a statue it was a statue where players often met, a statue of a dog. She guessed he'd be there on the sole reason that's the only landmark involving a canine. Anyone in the world would have guessed Okami would go somewhere there was a dog. Although she had to confess the first place she checked was the pound. To which she later found out he avoided due to hating the dog catchers and having several withstraining orders from the government. Apparently he had to stay away from any type of pound or foundation for holding dogs. Kotori could only guess how he ended up with them. Well actually she could but she'd rather not think about it.

Okami had an answer, "The wolves howl to the moon, the moon comes to give them light while they hunt. The moon hears our cry even now, it will only disappear when the wolves are done hunting. The players stand no chance against the Night Noise."

Kotori raised an eyebrow and looked up at the moon. He answered, but he spoke in riddles. Kotori had caught some of what he said. "So… If there are no wolves to cry to the moon… Will the night fade?"

Okami let out a low growl in confirmation. "If the players kill my wolf noise… The night shall fade. But the hunt shall continue until my final breath." The game master wasn't through, "I… Okami… will hunt them down. I will not stop until I find them… watch them struggle to survive… until I personally… see them fed to the dogs."

Kotori would do her best to ensure he didn't succeed. For now she could only hope Weiss and Nanami could hold their own. She wasn't good at hoping, so she'd improvise. Kotori left little to chance this time.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Interesting turn of events." The blue haired player had yet to see this mission. Okami's infamous day six. It hardly mattered to him. It's not like they'd get him with any parlor tricks. Actually if they managed to find something that could erase him, he'd take special interest in it. It wasn't like him to take interest in many things, unless it concerned him. Selfish? Perhaps. Power is all that mattered these days. And even that meant next to nothing to Thanatos. What was it about blue he liked? Perhaps he liked blue for the same reason Okami liked wolves, it's what made him easy to define. He liked blue, he liked most things that were described blue. The sky, the ocean, Her eyes. It was the only color he ever saw, blue. But her eyes. His thoughts trailed off as he remembered his failure in life. All his hard work amounted to nothing, in fact everyone's hard work amounted to nothing. Nothing mattered in the world he lived in. And doubly so in the world he was playing in. Still, he couldn't help but notice a new type of noise, "Noise of the night…" It was at this moment he looked at the sky and found himself wishing that he could shut his eyes for an indefinitely long time. He was tired of this game. He was tired of being attacked by noise and reapers. He just wanted to see her again in some sort of afterlife.

The noise never seemed to tire of him though. They attacked again and again only to be quickly erased by their opponents experience and power. What power did he wield? That of a reaper. That of beyond a reaper. Noise stood no chance against him, empowered by Okami's nightfall or not. The real problem was he couldn't even remember the last time a noise fought him without a reaper sicking one on him. But the way he saw it, every time he killed a reaper. They wouldn't bother him again. Hopefully they'd learn to leave him alone altogether soon enough. But then again, he wasn't very good at hoping. So he'd improvise.

Much to his displeasure he was attacked by more and more noise. This type was definitely stronger than the usual noise and much faster. He cursed under his breath as the noise actually might make him use a psych. He hated the game he was in and the pins you used to create psyches. He would channel that hatred through a black and white pin and call upon a bear noise which lashed out at his opponents with the same motions he did. That bear noise mirrored his own movements. After taking out a few noise he turned to see a wolf howl to the moon and more noise appeared. "So… I won't get any quiet until I shut you up?… I see." The blue haired player attacked the wolf noise before him erasing it without putting out much effort. To his surprise the noise wasn't very strong, even as far as noise went. "Do they expect me to find every wolf noise… Tough luck. No player's going to find every single wolf before they get eaten…" Then again, he had to admit that he had made it this far. He didn't even bother messing with any missions. After a thought he came to the idea that he wasn't going to do much of anything unless he was attacked. "They can deal with this… this is their game… not mine." That's when he remembered why he was moving at all. That Reaper said that white haired player could help. He had to find him.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Weiss and Nanami would look up as part of the white moon above them turned darker on it's end. It wasn't planetary alignment that made it seem that way either. This moon was linked directly to the life of Okami's wolf noise. As long as they lived, night noise would continue to hunt the remaining players. As far as Nanami could tell there would be no end to them, she was too distracted dealing with noise to even notice the moon changed. Before the moon changed there was a deafening howl across the city. "Nanami, look around for a wolf." Weiss said this as he managed to see a wolf noise prowling around on its own. Every time Weiss and Nanami would defeat a noise it howled and more came. Every time the wolf let out any type of bark or howl more noise would show up. They were the ones summoning Noise! Weiss was examining every detail he could around him. How exactly he managed to do this while fighting noise, Nanami would never know. "The wolves!" Weiss cried out. "They're summoning more! Take them out!"

"I see it!" She let out her notebook and sent out attacks. Each attack the wolf nimbly dodged and summoned new noise. Weiss wasn't one for cheap shots, but noise didn't exactly have a code of honor either. While the wolf was busy dodging Nanami's attack he sent out an attack of his own. One that wouldn't be easy to dodge. Lightning and plasma rained toward the wolf noise and it felt every drop. It was a new pin, lightning seemed cool. It did more than look cool though. It could fry Noise. The wolf Noise was erased without much trouble and was surprisingly fragile for it's quick body and ability to summon noise.

After the wolf was defeated the moon darkened. Exactly a sixth of the moon darkened. The part that darkened was a clue. "If we keep clearing out wolf noise the moon will go away. I'd say one more kill and it'll be a half moon." That's when he realized. One wolf was erased and they didn't do it. Interesting. That meant someone was helping somewhere. There was someone else hunting the Noise. Great! That was going to make this much easier.

Then they got a text. Who it was from? Probably Okami. It was a hint and nothing more. It might not even be real. But then, why would he send a hint? Maybe the other reapers did? Possible, but it was most likely Okami. Someone else would have wrote it in plain language.

**_Six wolves in a pack, but the lone wolf hunts alone._**

Weiss caught on a little quicker than he should have, "There's six wolves total. We need to erase all six if we want this nightfall to go away."

Nanami asked Weiss, "Any idea how Okami is doing this?"

Weiss had to think, but he didn't have much time to think. With every wolf they erased less and less Noise were coming. But right now there were still a large portion of Noise. Enough to be a problem, that wasn't good. "Well… he's not actually summoning noise… he's taking ones that were already here… and modifying them."

Nanami wanted to hear more, "I didn't know reapers could modify noise like that."

Weiss shook his head, "This is different. Every time a wolf barks or howls it emits a scan similar to that of a player. All noise caught in this said scan become night noise and attack whoever the wolf is targeting… That's how it seems like we're fighting endless waves of noise. They're gathering any nearby noise and forcing us to fight them."

Nanami had to stop him a moment, "Question. I can get how they're sending noise at us. What I don't get is how this nightfall has anything to do with it. When the wolf died the moon changed alignment."

Weiss could only speculate, "We may be on another plane… or he's modifying the Underground with this moonlight. That isn't the actual moon, it's a psych. A well made one. He's either a cheater or an extremely powerful reaper. Both are bad news for us. This nightfall is a plane of Okami's invention and his psych is a work of brilliance. In it he can scan and sick countless noise on a player. This guy is impressive. He's a natural with Noise."

The reason Okami might have learned this trick was the situation. There were more Noise now then there had ever been. This tactic might not have been as effective in the years before. But now it was nearly a death sentence.

Nanami listened and it didn't sound fair at all. "You mean to tell me as long as there's nightfall he could send endless amounts of Noise our way?"

Weiss tried to explain it better, "Think of us as being in a giant scan like we use our player pins for… Only pretend instead of the pin, it's that moon. The wolf noise are being controlled by Okami and the other Noise are just being turned aggressive. As long as Okami has the willpower and mental stigma… He could continue sicking noise at us endlessly. Pretty elegant."

Nanami listened more and found it even less fair, "So basically we're in an endless battle until we take out those dogs and his psych."

Weiss did have some hope, "It's probably got limited range. He could only make it appear nightfall where there's a wolf. That's why after we kill a wolf the Noise stop coming. Take them out and he's got no more Noise to send. Actually this is a legal mission, it's just really hard. He's not breaking any rules I know of."

Nanami pointed something out, "Um… I could be wrong, but wouldn't the wolves be like radio towers… broadcasting for him?… thus the more wolves we destroy the quicker the nightfall goes away?"

They had just about figured out the inner workings of Okami's impossible day 6. Weiss thought about it. "Yes exactly. Okami's broadcasting a signa and the wolves redirect the signal to noise… who attack us… clever bastard."

Both were true, Okami was both clever and a bastard. Okami could see they were catching on by his wolves dying. They might actually make it. Regardless of his past appearances he was very clever. Okami valued destruction. Perhaps it was because of Shibuya or his hatred of it that lead him to erase the dead. Players were his prey in a dog eat dog world, "Witness the wolf at work. Watch and wait. It's a wonderful world. And woe to those who say otherwise." W seemed to be the sponsored letter there. "Hear the cry. Answer the call. Fear the howl. Be devoured." He was being poetic, using his psych like this made him more emotional than normal. For he was putting something very important into his psych. He couldn't lose.

Okami watched Weiss and Nanami from a distance. "You two!" He called out to them, they barely able to hear him. "Mess with a wolf… you get the pack." After a howl noise from all around the city appeared and beckoned to his call. In his mouth were smiling gritted teeth which were unusually sharp looking for a human. "Try to survive. I'm waiting to see your fangs. Show your teeth and defend yourself." After that a magnificent wolf cry went to the moon. The light from the moon got brighter. He wasn't going to make the wolves hide anymore. They were coming.

Nanami was surprised at how many noise appeared to his cry. A wolf noise appeared and glared at them. Then another. Then another. Each let out a howl and each sent Noise their direction. Okami could see them? No he could sense them. The nightfall was his making. It only stood to reason that he could sense players in it. He looked at the moon as if accepting a challenge. "Send all you have, Okami."

Okami laughed, "Pup… I hope you make it through… I really do… so I can tear into you myself…"

Weiss would lightly smile and say in a cheerful tone, "Don't worry I will." One way to piss Okami off was to appear happy in the face of danger. To disrespect him.

Nanami thought Okami was going to need dental work with how gritted his teeth were. That reaper was mad. Mad being both angry and crazy. Weiss would tell Nanami, "Focus all your attention on the wolf. If it falls… these noise will stop coming."

Okami looked at the moon, two of his wolves had been beaten already. The natural response was to sick his remaining wolves against the surviving players. This had to end one way or another. A timer against these two seemed pointless. It was do or die. Far better to watch them fight to the limit. After another howl all the noise all attacked at once and the battle began. Nanami needed to focus her attention on another wolf noise that Okami summoned just for her. Weiss needed to erase a wolf noise of his own. It looked like Okami wasn't going to let them fight together. There were too many noise to even consider fighting back to back. They were surrounded by Noise. This must have been what a zombie apocalypse felt like. Limitless numbers of things that could kill you. It was hard to see past them, but there was a more impressive wolf watching. Maybe they could find out what it was after they erased enough to get some elbow room.

Weiss zoomed from spot to spot hovering lightly above the ground and sending bolts of plasma at noise. Now the way he was moving looked familiar to how Neku fought. Even the way he used Psyches was getting similar. He sent lightning and sonic rings in their direction. "They're faster than normal noise, but there's nowhere for them to run with it this crowded." The player sent down bolts of light from the sky that came from his lightning psych and obliterated a number of them with one shot. Every bolt took out more than one Noise.

The noise had to retaliate. One after another appeared before Weiss unleashing a wide variety of attacks. It was difficult for Weiss to dodge, which explained why he got hit more than once and knocked against a building wall. After a few carefully placed slices of a Shockwave psych he fell back and readied an attack to hit massive amounts of opponents. "Nanami can't be doing much better." He opened up both hands and shot out waves of sonic rings and plasma bolts. The sound waves ripped through the Noise and bounced around a few times before finally stopping. Despite the fact Weiss hated using psyches that broke every rule known to physics, he couldn't complain with the results. There were plenty of erased noise. Weiss could now turn his attention to the wolf before him.

Nanami had to make use of every stroke of her pen. She dare not block for it would be the only thing she'd do afterwards. There were enough noise to make her go defensive forever. She stayed offensive sending waves of energy with every pen stroke. It was the only thing she could do until her picture was complete. When completing the picture of a building she opened the book and sent out an attack that caused a building wall to come crashing down on an area of Noise. If it weren't for Weiss she'd have been hit. He was erasing plenty in his zone. She had to lower their numbers too. If she didn't Weiss would be dead. She hit the noise with multiple attacks, the stronger ones survived and she exhaled a breath of frustration. Starting from scratch she began yet another picture. Nanami wasn't sure how Weiss was holding up, he couldn't possibly be doing much better with how many of these monsters there were. Actually knowing him he probably was. The Noise were clearing out more and more. But the more they cleared out, the more room they had to move. They rushed in and attacked viciously. They were friggin fast. It baffled her how good she was at blocking. Some of them vanished on her way to her. Weiss had more attack variety than she did.

He could use countless and yet she could only use one or two. All of which involved her notebook. Weiss seemed to favor lightning at the moment. He wasn't really limited to anything, but her psyches all tended to be better at range. That's where she would stay against the noise: range. From a distance she had a chance to focus her shots against the wolf noise that summoned more Noise. The first nimbly dodged every shot and didn't even do her the justice of attempting to counter. The other noise were more than happy to attack for it. This wasn't good. The Noise summoners were agile.

It wasn't easy dodging each and every attack, but you had to. If you got hit even once you'd flinch enough for the rest to tear you to shreds. Nanami got hit once. The only easy route left was blocking A LOT and every noise attack made it harder to block again. The girl held the pain back from the hit she took and leaped in the air where she couldn't be mauled. Then saw the wolf noise. Oh she'd hit it this time! She managed to hit the thing and even finish her picture. Another area effect attack was set off killing all the noise that managed to surround her below. The thing was that wasn't nearly enough noise. The whole sector of the city was flooded. Okami had put all of his cards in this. It was working. There were just too many to deal with. it was difficult to imagine taking out all the noise at once. Weiss and she had a habit of taking them all out with a fusion pin. Which reminded her, "Weiss the fusion pin's almost ready, just a little longer."

Weiss smiled and erased a wolf noise making the moon recede. He smiled and said in an uncaring fashion, "Take your time." There were two dogs left. Nanami took one out with her pen strike and Weiss managed to take one out with a well placed lightning bolt.

There was still plenty of noise despite the fact that the moon still had a third left before it went away. Now all they had to do was deal with the noise that remained.

Despite the efforts cleared out the Noise, it just made it easier for the Noise to run. They had more room to dodge and come in for the kill. The wolves who summoned endless noise were down to two so it made sense to go on the defensive until the fusion pin would go off. Nanami felt Weiss appear behind her and blast a noise who was about to attack her. "Watch my rear." There was enough Noise in front of her. Weiss had to take care of the Noise behind her.

Weiss raised in eyebrow and commented, "Usually women don't care much for boys staring, but I'll take you up on that later." Nanami had his back so he focused all of his attacks in front of him. Geeze, this many Noise shouldn't be legal. It probably wasn't. This was ridiculous.

Nanami rolled her eyes as she reminded herself to smack him upside the head another day. That joke was lame. But her focus was staying alive to do that. For now they had to finish off the rest of the noise and it would be a difficult task to defeat them one by one. Weiss preferred the easy way. "Let's use the fusion pin early. I think it's charged enough for the moment."

Nanami would agree and then let the pin activate. Weiss' power shot into the notebook and Nanami's eyes shot across the area noting every noise. From her notebook she would redirect the power to destroy them all. All of their collective power went into that notebook and she opened it. Firing out the equivalent of a dragon ball Z sized energy stream. Nanami made a quick spin motion and the blast shot through each and every Noise in the area. "This page of my life is full of clutter."

"Then turn the page."

The Noise died at the power of their pact. Or did they? All the Noise were dead except for the two wolves who summoned them. They ran away? They ran the moment they mentioned the fusion pin? Not good.

Okami's voice rang out, "You did well, but you lose. Once again I find you lose. This time there will be no salvation for you. I will erase you with my two remaining pack members!"

The two summoning wolves were still alive somewhere. Cooking up more noise to be erased. But Nanami and Weiss were too tired to move. The fusion pin wore them out. That was it, that's all they had. They needed to take a breather, but they couldn't. Noise were coming. They didn't have the strength to fight them.

Okami stood atop a building with both arms crossed, "You did well to defeat what you did. I've never had a player make it this far. Yes! You were worthy opponents and worthy of the pack! Become Reapers! I have no need for more kills or points! I need valuable allies! You two! Become Reapers! I'm sure the Conductor would allow it!" It seemed Okami was excited about the idea. Reapers that were as strong as him. All they need to is agree and they wouldn't be erased.

Nanami looked at the moon and pointed, "You reapers are sick! You thrive off the death of others! I won't ever be one."

Weiss laughed, "Well you heard the lady."

Okami didn't understand, but he didn't dwell on it long. "I've heard your cries! If you are not predators then you are prey! Die together and be devoured!"

That's when Okami felt his concentration break. Did something just hit him? When Okami's concentration broke his psych stopped working. The Nightfall was a very delicate process that could easily be stopped if something hit him. But who would hit him?

Thanatos stood behind Okami. "Surprise asshole."

Thanatos made a punching motion that a summoned blue Noise mimicked. Thanatos just attacked the Game Master and sent him skidding into the Hachiko statue. Another hit from the Noise and Okami blocked. It took him a moment to snap out of his meditation trance to see what just happened. A player of all things had attacked him while he was focusing on the Nightfall. A player! Where was the player now?!

When Okami looked up Thanatos was already gone. "No... NO! Fight me you coward! You dare strike the pack leader and flee?!" He didn't have time to look for Thanatos, he had to focus and get his psych working before it was too late.

Weiss and Nanami couldn't believe their luck. For no explainable reason all the Night Noise just stopped moving. The wolves and all. They were tired, but they managed a healing pin and launching an assault on the remaining two wolf Noise. The wolf Noise didn't dodge or move, they just took the hit and were erased. The other Noise didn't move. They didn't dodge, they just took whatever attacks Weiss and Nanami could manage.

Before they knew it, there were no Night Noise left. Why did they stop moving? What happened? Why couldn't they hear Okami's voice? The moon made a full eclipse. Then almost as quickly as Okami's voice vanished it returned.

It echoed around them, "It seems Kotori is clever... No matter. I will see you on day seven. Yes, this is better! This is what I really wanted! I wanted to fight you myself! I know your methods! I have seen you in combat! I watched you struggle to survive and have your scent. The male is the alpha of your pack and the bitch little else than support."

That was insulting, Nanami did a lot more than support. "Well this support bitch just beat your mission."

Weiss frowned, "I didn't think our difference in power was that staggering."

Okami pointed out the obvious, "The alpha gives commands! He is the one who rules your pack. Without his leadership you are nothing."

Nanami pointed at the moon, "You're going to fight both of us and we're partners."

Okami found that funny, "Partners? Is that what you think you are? Take a look at his soul and you'll know that he was holding back."

Weiss gave Nanami a serious look, "No I'm fighting with my all. He's just trying to cause distrust before we fight him. If we did what we did today we'd win."

Okami was ready to fight, "You wish to lock fangs with the Game Master? Do you wish to see my power?"

Weiss gave a painless shrug, "Not really. We can beat you as we are now and you know it. You're just telling me I'm holding back to confuse me. If I were holding back I would know it."

Okami went on, "You really don't know what power you hold?! Laughable! A powerful wolf long stripped of his fangs! That's all you are! No longer able to fight, you're weak. You have so much more power in your Soul, but you do not access it! How is it that you have not noticed?! Such foolish prey!"

That's when someone appeared next to Okami. It was a surprise. It wasn't a Reaper, an officer or the Conductor. It was plain button down shirted male with fluffy hair. Joshua was the Composer. The Composer wasn't happy with what Okami said either. "Stay silent."

Okami at first didn't recognize who he was talking to. "Who are you?" He was too focused on Weiss and Nanami to care.

Joshua didn't have to answer, he just put a hand on Okami and that's when the Reaper understood. "The Alpha Prime! The Composer! My apologies my Patriarch. Give the order and I shall obey!"

Joshua took his hand off Okami, "Continue the game, but do not speak to Weiss of his soul. I have plans for him in the coming day. You are to fight him as hard as you are able tomorrow."

Okami had no problem with that, "Of course! You are the Den Lord and Alpha Prime."

Joshua put his hand on Okami's shoulder again. This time he spoke to Weiss and Nanami, "Your mission isn't over. Continue the game. I anxiously await to see the results."

Joshua was gone as quickly as he arrived. Okami was being watched? By the Composer?! How glorious. What better way to demonstrate his strength. Yes the mission wasn't over just yet. But they would succeed. The bulk of his wolves were gone and the next day was coming. He needed to prepare. "The lone wolf remains." He told Weiss and Nanami as the moon was vanishing. "Serenade, I leave it to you."

Okami had to have a word with Kotori and that blue haired player. Thanatos? Yes, he had no partner and yet he could fight. That was the name he'd put on his tombstone! No! He wouldn't even be remembered when Okami was through with him!

XXXXXXXXXX

Thanatos was waiting inside a shop, Okami definitely wasn't able to erase him. It was clear that Okami was an impressive reaper, but he lacked the necessary power to erase someone like Thanatos. Okami had an extraordinary amount of willpower to make a technique like Nightfall. "Okami wants to kill me now?... I hope he gets the chance. But that Reaper lied to me. Okami couldn't erase me... and she was probably lying about that white haired boy." Thanatos couldn't sense anything of note about Weiss or his partner for that matter. It was all pointless. This was all a farce. No matter, it's not like anything was different now.

XXXXXXXXXX

There was one thing that bothered Nanami, "Why is the mission not over?"

"Six wolves in a pack… But the lone wolf hunts alone." Weiss answered. Apparently Kariya and Uzuki weren't the masterminds behind helping Weiss and Nanami. Maybe it was this Kotori lady. He made a mental note of her name. Okami called her clever. It meant she was his opposition. "The real question is where this lone wolf hunts."

Nanami noticed the clue, "We only killed six wolves. There's one more somewhere. Well... let's rest a bit before we go looking. "

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Joshua, the composer, the most powerful being in Shibuya often found apathy the best defense against the world. He was apathetic about the reaper's game, religion and any sort of belief. Joshua got through the world doing that. Apathy was tool that allowed him to live, if he cared, there's no telling how many times he would have been plagued with remorse and guilty conscience. Hanekoma had a habit of breaking through his apathy. As much as he hated that about him, he loved him for the same reason. Hanekoma made him care about Shibuya and life. Those were two things he was about to lose. Glancing at the timer on his hand three weeks remained. If even two weeks went by, it'd all be over. The noise were poised to strike and destroy everything about Shibuya. The Noise wouldn't stop either. They'd tear the underground apart. The only logical result of the Noise destroying the underground is the living world to become a hellhole overnight. There would be riots, there would be mindless violence and there would be not a building standing within a week. So now one would have to ask why the most powerful being in Shibuya had to ask for help. It was because apathy wouldn't save him or the city. The Noise had been building up for years, they were the worst kind of pollution. Joshua had ways of erasing Noise, but nothing like this. This was different. The Noise were stronger than him now. The Noise were stronger than all of Shibuya. Whenever they struck it'd be over. Hanekoma predicted a week or two before they actually attacked. Something to do with the angels. Hanekoma kept trying to tear down Josh's apathy and left him defenseless against guilt and fear. When the city died he'd go with it, "He made sure of that…" Joshua cursed. He remembered it well, six years ago. He came face to face with a being more powerful than himself.

**"Composer Joshua! ********Shibuy is your responsibility. Its fate shall be bound to your own… You will be bound and chained to this city. You will be ripped apart when it is ripped apart. Composer, you have failed on every conceivable level. You are a shame to Shibuya. You have broken rules, lives and hearts. Your justification is inexcusable. This city saved itself from you, the Composer, the one who should be the protector. You have threatened to destroy this city. You nearly succeeded. I give no threat. I give a promise. If this city falls… so shall you… Let the game begin.****"**

Joshua couldn't felt weak then, perhaps for the first time. He was powerless at that moment, but it wasn't over. Joshua still had time to save the city. He still had a chance, but the chance was slipping away as the timer on his hand ticked away. Hanekoma was the only other person who was there. He too was punished and he too lost something that day. Hanekoma got off easy.

**"********Producer Hanekoma. You stand before us without regret. You clearly love Shibuya, far more than you love yourself. It is for that reason you were made Producer, it was for that reason you were to bring the greatest minds to that city. You were to teach the people your way of thinking… your philosophy and you did an admirable job. I admire you, Hanekoma. However… Your actions went too far. As a Producer… you should know the full extend of unleashing Taboo upon the world. You knew the risk and you know you must be punished. Although… I know your reasons for what you have done. But know the reasons for what I must do. As of now… your wings… are forfeit. I'm sorry old friend."**

After that Joshua and Hanekoma were to be watched. They sent someone down there to watch them. He had a name. Joshua said it as he entered the coffee shop. "Charon? Nice to see you." Joshua said as he entered the coffee shop. It really wasn't nice to see Charon, ever. Charon was their jailor to make sure Joshua stayed in Shibuya and Hanekoma didn't do any other stupid things.

Charon took a slow sip of coffee and ate nothing, "Composer. If you are looking for Hanekoma, he's in the back working on a seal. He can tell you details I cannot." Charon didn't understand half the stuff Hanekoma did. It was above his paygrade.

The relationship Joshua had with Charon was odd. Charon was a guest in his city. Joshua had more authority than him as long as he was in Shibuya. Charon did as he was told by Joshua, he obeyed Joshua and Hanekoma, but at the same time was their jail guard. "Did you receive any messages?" Joshua asked the demon.

Charon looked at his phone and said, "None that concern you. Do you have any orders for me, Composer?"

Joshua only had one, "If you'd excuse me and Hanekoma."

Charon nodded, "You should know that's one request I shouldn't honor." Charon started walking through the door, "You may talk of foolish things, but do not do them."

Joshua scratched the back of his head, "No guarantee there. We'll be short." Charon left.

Joshua made his way to the back of the shop where written on the walls were symbol after symbol. On the floor were symbols, the ceilings were symbols and on every conceivable place you could write something on. Desks, chairs everything had a symbol on it. Hanekoma was busy drawing one on a sheet of paper, "Been working, chief. Still I got some good news and bad news."

Joshua sipped some very cold coffee and asked, "Start with the good news."

Hanekoma pointed at a symbol, "That one works. It'll draw in countless noise into it. It emits a scan powerful enough to pull every noise in the city to it."

Joshua sipped, "And the bad news?"

Hanekoma scratched the back of his head, "I don't have anything that can hold the amount of noise needed. The only thing I can think of so far is Reapers… but you're the only one who could deal with them if they used this. It's a technique of Noise possession. But I won't recommend it."

Joshua nodded, "Keep that one in mind, but keep working. We'll need more options before we execute a plan to save Shibuya. Pulling in lots of noise to one place could be useful, however… From what I'm seeing… they'd destroy anyone who could hold them, that includes me. Only the strongest reapers could hold a considerable amount and I don't even have enough reapers."

Hanekoma would get up to take a break, "I just spoke with Neku, apparently you're not paying attention to the game."

Joshua looked at the timer on his hand and chuckled, "Should I be?" He knew more than anyone else about it.

Hanekoma went on, "There's some interesting things going on. You might find at least 2 people interesting."

Joshua shook his head and lied, "I don't have time to be interested in other things, in two weeks the world ends with me. And… my… it'll end in a clash."

Hanekoma went on, "You know you could ask the higher ups to help you."

Joshua looked at the floor, "To do that… I'd need to give up my position as Composer. I'm trying to find a way to give someone the job without Charon erasing him."

Hanekoma raised an eyebrow, "Well someone has to kill you. Any other way is out of bounds Charon would erase them and then… well you."

Joshua wondered, "Do you think Charon could really erase me would it be possible to deal with him first?" Hanekoma didn't know, "In theory… yes. He's powerful enough to erase even you. However I don't think anyone is willing to test it. Not even the angels are sure."

Joshua didn't have to give it much thought, "It's best not to piss him off, it's his boss who's help I need."

Hanekoma pointed out, "But getting back on subject. As a matter of interest… There's a player who might be able to help."

Joshua didn't really know why Hanekoma took interest in players in the reaper's game. They would be dead in two weeks if he didn't do something. "Which player?" Joshua already knew which one. But Hanekoma was trying to help him out.

Hanekoma thought of a way to answer, "Well… Look at the girl Nanami. She's interesting."

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Nanami… what about her?"

Hanekoma chuckled a bit and said, "Look beyond your horizons. Look closely at her, you'll see. Joshua rattled off what he already knew, "She's just an ordinary player. She died from being shot… A Reaper killed her. I intend to resurrect her if she makes it through the game. She made a pact on day one… she's managed to survive Okami. What of her?"

Hanekoma did a facepalm. He was clearly trying to get Joshua to take a look at Weiss. But he couldn't TELL him to look at Weiss. Some angel rule barring him from doing so. "Talk to her or something, you'll see something really interesting." He was trying his best to steer Joshua to notice.

Joshua didn't know how to tell him he already looked. Charon entered the room, "That's enough, Ex-Producer. You are not to speak of such matters. The Composer has no need to be in our business. I've spoken to him already about Nanami. The reaper who killed her has been dealt with. I erased him personally."

Joshua raised an eyebrow and started being a jackass "Oh really? I had no idea." Joshua played coy, just to be a jerk. But it let Hanekoma know that he probably already looked into this.

Charon answered, "All for points. At any rate she's of no interest to you. Focus on your objective and hopefully this city can be saved."

Charon turned to walk away as Joshua rubbed his chin, "Nanami huh yeah I think she has a partner?"

Hanekoma shook his head as if he got the message. Joshua already knew and that's all he could ask for. "Honest chief, look at her. You might learn something."

Joshua made a proposal. "Is there anything you can tell me about him and get away with it?"

Hanekoma paused and sighed, "I'm not a liberty to say. There's an operation going on, but I can't say what exactly."

Joshua rubbed his hair, "Well… I'm taking necessary precautions. Minamimoto should be informed of the state of the things now… assuming of course he doesn't already know. He's an observant fellow."

Hanekoma said, "That he is. But I doubt even he'll see this coming."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The wolf had never seen anyone make it this far. Serenade was a very special noise and was a very important to Okami. They worked as a team and it was perhaps because of Serenade he loved wolves as much as he did. Regardless Serenade was not to be taken lightly. Why was it these new players were so strong? How did they survive for as long as they did. Did they have purpose or reason? Did it matter? Serenade was up. The lone wolf had to hunt and it hunted Weiss and Nanami.

Weiss and Nanami didn't waste any more time. "You're getting stronger, Nanami. We're going to win. Are you sure you're rested?"

The girl would reply, "Thanks I'm fine. But it didn't look like Okami honored me as a real opponent."

She didn't know why that bothered her. It was disrespectful, sure. But Okami was their enemy so why should she care what he thought.

Weiss seemed to have an answer, "I don't think he respects women. Probably his boss is a woman and he thinks less of her than you. Kotori I think her name is. Okami's a reaper, a reaper crazy enough to be a Game Master… so what makes you think he'll honor anybody?"

But honestly it was true Weiss was the stronger of the two even if just by a bit. Nanami had become a stronger person but the question that bothered her was if she had just been carried by Weiss the whole time. It's true he was stronger than her. He also seemed to notice things she didn't, the girl hated that about him and at the same time was grateful he was as skilled as he was. No, this was just an attempt Okami had at throwing them off. They were going to win and they needed to stay focused.

Weiss had to state, "For now we need to find the lone wolf. The statue is probably a good place to check." He pointed at the statue of a famous dog and walked towards it. Nanami looked around, it bothered her. She had become stronger and survived, she would get a second chance at life soon if things went the way they were. So why couldn't she be happy? Her price wasn't bothering her that much. The fact what bothered her was a mystery just made it worse. If she could only have some idea what it was. If she thought about her price too much she'd get a headache. If she thought about Weiss too much, she'd get jealous. Better just to search.

Weiss approached the statue and looked over it again and again. Weiss went into the bushes to look around. It could have been hiding somewhere in the bushes around the statue. The boy decided to look a little further. It didn't seem to have anything around it or near it. "Well… That's one place we'd find a dog."

There didn't seem to be anything there. When Nanami looked up she felt like she was being watched. She was being watched! That's what was bothering her! By who or what she did not know.

Weiss looked like he walked out of the bushes as calm as could be. Weiss didn't have the same feeling. "Well Nanami where should we try next."

Her head looked around again and again and took a step away from Weiss. She had a bad feeling.

Weiss kept walking toward her ignoring her clear intuition of being watched. "Calm down."

Then she pulled out her notebook, something was definitely watching them. Ready to attack at any moment. It was making her tense. Weiss got closer to her and ignored her fears. Weiss was being really stupid, couldn't he feel something was wrong? It was here. After a moment Nanami called out. "You didn't find anything in the bushes?" She stayed alert and Weiss just walked closer to her blocking her line of sight of the bushes and statue.

A voice called out from beyond the statue. It sounded exactly like Weiss, "Not yet. But something was just here. Stay alert!" At that moment Nanami turned all her attention to the person in front of her. Whatever was in front of her wasn't Weiss. The real Weiss was still looking around in the bushes and whatever this thing was took his shape to sneak attack Nanami. What was standing in front of her? "Get back!"

She told the imposter of Weiss who responded with a smile. It stopped using Weiss' voice. And used a female voice that could have belongs to a singer. "A woman's intuition. Never doubt it. Trust your intuition and you'll get far in life." Then the imposter Weiss ran up and grabbed her neck. The imposter's eyes changed to a blue silver. It was Serenade. It then blocked off Weiss from helping by making a barrier. "Now that he's out of the way."

Nanami jolted back and shot a few lines of ink at her new opponent. It took the shape of a silver and blue wolf. Clearly feminine despite being a dog. The wolf nimbly dodged each shot with grace and advanced with a light trot. It had a pretty voice, "Don't let fear overcome you."

Nanami launched several more attacks and responded, "I'm not afraid!"

The wolf responded sweetly, "I can smell your fear, dear. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Your response to fear is to fight. It is better than those who run. Those who run don't last long. I admire you for standing your own ground. Okami was wrong about you."

The wolf kept nimbly dodging every attack Nanami sent at it. "You attack too quickly, don't let fear control your senses. Okami can't control his anger either; don't suffer his fate by letting anger make you lose your mind."

Nanami blocked several wolf scratches and then asked the wolf she fought, "Are you a noise? Why are you telling me this?"

The wolf kept attacking with speed and grace, "I'm hoping that you can defeat Okami, that his eyes can be opened to this city. Defeat me, but I won't let myself be beaten until you have a chance."

Weiss turned and saw Nanami being attacked, he was ready to activate an offensive psych when he heard what the wolf said. He stopped when he felt the barrier. That wolf wasn't a normal Noise. That was a person. "You… you were brought back by Okami."

Weiss let Nanami fight the wolf and then saw what was going on. "Nanami… you're going to have to defeat Serenade alone. She's right. That's no ordinary noise, she was once a player."

Serenade was clearly out of Nanami's league right now. The wolf was able to scratch and kick, but never once bit. Nor did Serenade make any great attempt to kill. Serenade wanted Nanami to learn something. "You'll be facing Okami tomorrow. Are you prepared to take a life? Are you prepared to put your future on the line against him? Are you determined to live? Will you let his words shake you?" The wolf turned more aggressive as Nanami did everything in her power to defend and send return blasts.

Nanami was shocked, "Who were you?"

Serenade jumped back and changed forms. She took the shape of Nanami. Serenade looked exactly like her in every way. "Look at your own face. Do you not see the fear in your own eyes. The uncertainty?"

Serenade began attacking Nanami with regular fist attacks and seemed to put up a much better fight and still be just as agile. From Weiss' point of view there were two Nanami's. One fighting with a notebook and one fighting with carefully placed palm strikes. The real Nanami was losing. "Look at yourself! Look at how you judge yourself! You cannot defeat Okami with the slightest simmer of doubt in your mind. You have to know your own power! Your own mind! Know yourself and your soul!" Serenade was a shapeshifting Noise.

Nanami managed to knock Serenade back as Serenade changed to another form. This time took the form of Joe Hawkeye. Imitating his voice Serenade said, "That's right girl! I killed you! I took away your life! I killed you because you were weak!"

Nanami attacked it with rage her psych clearly not as strong as it was before. Her focus was broken. Serenade was clearly getting to her. Nanami attacked clearly losing her cool again and again letting anger run free. "I killed you for no reason, for kicks! For points!"

Nanami stopped attacking and starting blocking attacks. She responded, "Yes… you killed me. My life was mine to live. You robbed me of my future. But you were punished… I still have a chance to come back. You don't." Serenade was just playing a mind game with Nanami.

Serenade changed forms again to her mother. "Don't ever leave us, child. Don't ever go somewhere we won't see you. It'd break our hearts…"

She knew it wasn't real. She knew that. But even so. Nanami got a headache as she spoke the following words, "Mother… my life was mine to live. My dreams aren't yours… they're mine. I want to go to Shibuya. Accept this. I'll always be your daughter, but you haven't the right to choose my future." The memory hurt her. But it completely overpowered another memory.

Then Serenade changed again. This time into Neku, "You got some talent. I'll let you work for me, but first… I got a question for ya. Are you going to be able to willing to work around the clock. This job never stops and doesn't have hours. It's a salary because you have to plan everything. If you can handle it, I'll let you work for me. Also I'm going to put some of your work in our art department. I think you have a little bit of talent" Nanami's head was aching bad now, "Thank you for giving me attention despite my credentials. No previous work or experience."

Serenade spoke for Neku now sparing with Nanami, "I didn't exactly have experience under my belt either. Everyone deserves a chance, but… the question is. Are you willing to take it? I'm going to offer an internship. You can work for me. But you'll be pushed. You could probably make better money somewhere else, Nanami." The money was a problem, she had bills to pay. Nanami kept sparing with Neku, "I'll do it. Give me a chance to show you what I'm capable of."

After that Seranade changed forms again. This time she took the form of Shiki, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the job. Neku was impressed you took the internship." Nanami spared with Shiki now. This time Nanami was smiling despite her head aching an unbearable amount. "I know that was a test… Still it would be nice if I made some money while doing what I love."

Imposter Shiki kept fighting with a smile. "Between you and me, Neku's keeping an eye out for you. I think he's rooting for your success."

Nanami looked down and muttered, "He definitely is. He payed triple what I was promised and now I have a new best friend."

Serenade turned into Rhyme, "You really help us out. You go above and beyond the call of duty. That's what we needed. You're a life saver."

Nanami's headache started coming back. She was remembering more and more.

Then Serenade turned back into a wolf, "Do you not see your price now? My eyes pierce your soul, Nanami. Even players generate noise. Your noise keeps you from seeing the truth of things. Your price should be known to you. You have implanted memories. Memories of the you who wanted to stay. Your price was your dream. The price was you never coming here, the price was your life being switched. You knew this, but now you must accept this. You must take back the life that is yours! Remember! The Reapers game cannot steal your bonds away forever!"

After this Nanami grabbed her head as pain shot through her head, every fiber of her mind denied her to be able to remember what really happened. "It hurts." Nanami stopped fighting. Then Serenade kicked her to the ground.

"You believe that you cannot regain that which was taken away? You were in Shibuya and you chose to come here. Now choose! Do you wish to be the girl who stayed or do you wish to be the girl who stood her ground and believed she made the right choice. You always regretted not staying, you always wondered what it would have been like if you stayed. Now! What do you regret?"

Nanami pulled out her notebook and launched a powerful attack, "Nothing! I regret nothing! I came here to regain my life! I came here to reclaim that which was mine! My life and my dream! I wanted to make my own choices! I can't live my life wondering if I was wrong!" She completed a picture sketch of herself. "My life is mine to live!"

Serenade then faced an attack which Nanami had never unleashed before. A shining white light shot out from her book. The power of her psych was incalculable. Serenade hopped back but it was no use. The attack hit Serenade at full force. The wolf barely managed to hand on to her existence, "Fear not… child…"

The feminine voice spoke, "You have the power to face Okami now… You have the will… To defeat him. You understand… Now finish it."

Nanami looked at the wolf, "Will you be able to return?" Nanami got another hit.

Serenade was Okami's lover years ago. She changed back into a wolf and faced Nanami. They continued sparing, but Nanami had the clear advantage. "Erasing me fully is impossible as long as Okami has my pin… you have to finish him. Defeat him and let him see the truth of things. Do this for me. Erase him before he descends into the final stage of madness."

Nanami thought for a moment on erasing the wolf. This was a person wasn't it? Then Weiss stood next to her and told her, "You need to do it. Finish it. You'll see her again."

Nanami asked her one request, "I want to remember you. Take the shape of your human form."

The wolf responded with a light sigh and gave a gentle nod, "This is my face." Serenade responded taking the shape of not a noise, but a beautiful young lady. Her beauty was marred by noise symbols. You could visibly see Noise tattoos on her arms and legs. She wore worn clothes, hand me downs. Very plain, but very pretty. Serenade was definitely human once. She was important to Okami once, but now long forgotten. Silver hair might not have been her natural hair color, but it suited her. This was what she really was. "Erase me like this." After a look at Weiss Nanami pointed her notebook at her and then began to draw without an attack being finished. Nanami did a perfect sketch of the woman. It was titled and everything. With that picture she unleashed an attack that sent the smiling face away.

Nanami was sad now. "I didn't have to erase her."

Weiss held up a phone and reminded her of the mission they just completed. "You had to. She was the last condition."

Nanami looked at her picture and frowned, "She was trying to help us."

Weiss nodded, "Even she wanted Okami erased. We only had a short glimpse... but you know what happened. The reason Okami became a reaper, was her. He wanted to bring her back even as a Noise. But he's not what he was. She wants peace and she wants Okami to drop this madness."

Nanami refused to cry about it. But maybe just one tear was appropriate. "Tomorrow we'll erase him. This is our life and we'll live it as we should."

Weiss had to smile even though it was a little sad. "You're right. I think you've earned your price back.

XXX

End Day 6

XXX

That was a long one. But still I wanted to get as much of the plot out in the open this chapter before the week ends, it will be hard to put too much plot in next chapter during a fight. At any rate the next chapter will be against Okami. He's going to be a tough bastard, but you know... most bastards are. Thank you for any and all support I've been given and a special shoutout to Zero who has been sticking with me since day one.

One more day to edit then I'll have a pretty first week. I'm sorry about the quality difference, between the edited vs unedited chapters. But I think you'll agree they desperately needed editing. I more or less posted rough drafts up and only the end chapters got better. Week three definitely has it the best. But even it could use a little. The good news is the better the chapter is the less time it would take to fix it up all pretty. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to rest .

Question of the Chapter: Should I edit week 2 or just write the newest chapter?


	7. Week One, Day Seven: Live with Me

Wow, I haven't touched this chapter in forever. Honestly looking back I had no idea if I'd actually finish or not. I was pretty determined to get a least one week out, but by this point I think I was getting disappointed with myself. I had some good ideas, but I felt like I couldn't really get them out of my head right. Hopefully I can edit some more and clean up anything that looks off or poorly written. Honestly the fact I've added details won't make the editing easier, but I do think adding more content to the story will ultimately help. Let me know if there's something you don't like. Particularly the changes from old to new if you see something. -0er0

Week 1 Day 7: Live with me

As Joshua simply put, "There's something interesting about this game... It might be the last interesting game I ever see." That was true. A lot of the games in the next coming weeks might involve evacuating people from Shibuya or involve the Noise destroying everything. Joshua had been closely watching the Noise, but now he found himself fascinated by an old friend and a new player. Neku Sakuraba was the obvious choice for Composer. Neku wouldn't willingly take the job at the moment and Neku definitely wouldn't play ball with Joshua. Joshua had been trying (although barely) to get Neku to take the job. He didn't want to tell Neku the details, because he didn't want Neku to know just how risky it was. So for Neku he'd have to wait and see if there were any alternative options. Although Neku's help was going to be required in the coming days. Even if Neku didn't want to help, he'd buckle down to help Shibuya, he loved this place. All Joshua need do is make him see it. His friends would stand with him, hell Joshua would stand with him if he could. But there were too many unknowns to make a real plan. One Joshua made a move, he'd have to make a dozen others. He could start at any moment, but he needed time to examine the details.

There was always something wrong with the game, but rarely did the Composer himself take the time to care. The Composer rubbed his chin and looked closely at the the players on the monitor. Images of Beat helping Weiss erase a Noise. Nanami visiting Rhyme in the Shiki. Now Weiss met Neku in person. It seemed even Neku being out of the game for a while had a gut feeling about this Weiss guy. Oh if Neku only knew what Josh did. Probably the best thing for Weiss would be to be erased. I mean, all things considered. Joshua had a few ideas who and what Weiss was. Was he human, fully. Every bit as human as Joshua. That didn't say much. His Soul power? Significant. His ethics? Questionable. His purpose? To observe Shibuya. Even if Nanami didn't catch all the details, Joshua sure as hell did. Now all the details were being double and triple checked.

The Composer wasn't happy and neither was the Conductor. They both saw a lot of crap. Minamimoto wasn't a loyal and honorable Conductor. But he was capable. Sho never spoke to Joshua and Joshua never spoke to him. The only reason that the Conductor even was alive was because Joshua spared him... not that he had a choice. Minamimoto was the obvious Reaper to take Kitaniji's job. At least temporarily. Sho was powerful, calculating and Josh gave him a reason never to cross him. A lethal one. Joshua took necessary precautions to make sure Sho wouldn't betray him anytime soon. These precautions lasted six years. Pretty soon it wasn't even going to matter. Shibuya looked pretty doomed. This wasn't the Reaper's fight, they couldn't help Josh with this. They needed to keep the game running and that was all. Any more rule breaking and they'd be dead.

The Composer rubbed his chin as every Reaper held his or her breath. Some heads were poked in the room just to catch a glimpse of him. Joshua was in a good mood, he let them see him. The powerful version of himself. "Okami." The Composer took charge of the situation when he spoke. For Reapers and Players he was the strongest thing they'd ever see. Well other than the combined power of the Noise. They might see that soon.

The wolf of a man jumped out of the crowd of Reapers, "Sir! I'm honored by your presence, Den Lord!" This was one of the reasons Joshua hated making appearances. Formal suckups. But he was used to it. He couldn't really look down on them for trying to be as formal and polite as possible. Everyone acted that way to the Composer. It was kinda the reason Joshua liked hanging out with Neku and the gang. They treated him normally. Sure he didn't get all the respect he deserved, but he at least felt normal. "The mission starts an hour early. Are you ready to proceed?"

Okami was honored, "Sir! I'll tear them to pieces and feed them to the Noise. Salvation and revelation await."

Joshua never looked at Okami directly and in truth Okami had never seen what Joshua REALLY looked like.

In fact, no Reaper could see beyond what the Composer wanted to show them, "I'll be monitoring the entire battle on the side. My prayers end with you." Okami vanished with a burst of speed. Clearly the puppy was anxious to start.

Sho Minamimoto never looked good in a suit, "What are you going to do if they win? The equation isn't balanced." If the players won they'd lose Okami. If the players lost, there might be an inverse matrix." Sho and Josh knew something everyone else didn't.

The Composer nodded, "I know, but the situation isn't simple enough for a quick decision. I am glad you called this to my attention." There were too many players coming back to life these days. What was odd was even though the games were harder than they used to be. More came back to life. There were more deaths now than ever, true. The fact that people were dying like crazy from accidents or crime made it difficult for Reapers to manage. The Reapers seemed to lack the power to be everywhere at once. That and the Noise were getting harder and harder to control. "Conductor, place walls so that Thanatos doesn't assist the other players, my judgment bars him from assistance on the final day. Also I'd like you inform all Reapers about Thanatos. The terms of his price and his inability to reclaim it."

Joshua's ears were blown off by the Conductor's response. Sho pulled out a microphone, a surprisingly familiar microphone with wings on it. The microphone being familiar didn't bother Joshua as much as the speakers it was connected to. They were loud enough to blow clothes off and he may have been aiming for just that when he got them, "ATTENTION RADIANTS!" If Joshua were in his human form that might have killed him. The speakers squealed a moment before a kick from Sho messed up the interference, "THE COMPOSER HAS REQUESTED THAT ALL ReaperS BE INFORMED-" Many Reapers were holding their ears and some Reapers were shaking on the ground, the speakers were too loud to hear. Oh Sho Minamimoto probably just liked seeing them suffer.

XXXX

Nanami woke up with startled sweat. Today was the day and it was hard to believe that sleep could be so easily forced upon a player. Every day there was the mission and after that, sleep, there would be no more sleep after today. As per game rules on day seven Okami would be allowed to attack players directly, "He's going to be tough." Nanami muttered as she turned her head.

Weiss was awake first. No surprise there. Looking around the city he seemed to be fixated on Pork City, "You're awake." Weiss sounded slightly depressed and that was unusual. It was a melancholy voice he never used before.

What was usual was he would be smiling a fake smile. "Yeah. You feeling up for the day." She said trying to quietly remind him that Okami was their opponent.

He didn't seem to care about Okami, "The weeks almost over. When it's over I suppose I'll never see you again. What do you think of that?" Was that bothering him?

Nanami shook her head, "Weiss, we could meet up somewhere, how about the statue where we met-"

Weiss stopped her, "Nanami, I'm not coming back. The world ends with this moment and the world ends with you too. I'm not from Shibuya. I just remembered..."

Nanami didn't understand, "If you're not from Shibuya how are you in this game… and what do you mean by 'not coming back'?"

Weiss eyeballed the floor and then threw a fake smile at her with his usual cheer, "I'm not even from Japan. I died visiting."

Nanami shook her head, "Do you usually smile when you lie?" He was leaving something else out. He remembered something today. Why today? Who knows.

Weiss shook his head and corrected, "I smile when I'm not telling all of the truth."

Nanami folded her arms and looked in the distance. That's when she felt it and Weiss did too. The moment was upon them. The game was about to start.

Okami stood atop of a building watching them with his phone out. He could visibly see them and a smug grin wiped across his face. He was finally going to get his chance to fight those who made it past day six. Something that had never happened before. It was invigorating. Nanami and he had a bit of a staring contest. Weiss didn't bother looking at Okami he kept looking at the floor.

"There he is Weiss." Nanami whispered. His attention wasn't on Okami at all.

Weiss continued looking at the floor. "Tell me… would I really be worth finding after this game?" Weiss asked Nanami without looking at her.

Nanami hardly thought it the time to answer, but she felt a compulsion to tell him. "I want to see you again. You saved my life and you taught me a lot. I wanted to introduce you to everyone, I want to live to see everyone again. You too... Weiss what did you do?" She just answered. Nanami didn't think she just answered, Weiss did something. He made her confess to something? He did that to Joe Hawkeye back then.

Weiss nodded as if he received a satisfactory answer, "Then I'll help you get your life back." Weiss seemed to gain power. Nothing too big, but it was noticeable. He hadn't gotten much stronger since the start of the week. Upon hearing those words he looked her in the eyes. She saw a split second of golden eyes. They were different somehow. The expression was cold and terrifying. Then when he looked away his expression normalized. He put on that fake smile of his. "Let's get him."

This was her last chance to talk to Weiss? But she still had some questions. If there were ever going to be time to ask him something, it'd be time to ask him now. What to say? Was it really the last time they'd talk? Maybe they could talk after they won. Yeah no need to worry about final goodbyes or awkward questions. "Yeah. Let's get him."

Okami pulled out his phone, smiling the whole time. He hit a single button and on the screen: Sent. It didn't take long for both Nanami's and Weiss' phone to vibrate. The message was not something they expected. Nanami shook her head, "I was expecting, 'Defeat the game master'."

Weiss smiled, "I suppose he couldn't just say that. He intends to drag this out, make it fun for him. Giving us the illusion of free choice." Weiss put it away. "He's going to lose though."

The confidence in Weiss made Nanami feel better, there wasn't a hint of uncertainty that they could lose. It made sense to Nanami. They were stronger now. Weiss could use nearly every psych that he got his hands on and Nanami had more or less mastered her psych. Weiss helped her a lot, but questions remained. Come to think of it there were a number of odd things about Weiss she ignored. It seemed best to shrug it off and get through the mission, but now she guessed there really was a chance she wouldn't run into him again. She might never find out the truth about him, but she'd have to ask him now before the mission began. It was risky because she didn't want a fight on her last day. So she limited her question to one. Just one Question.

"Weiss… what are you really?… How did you get into the game and what's going to happen to you when this is over?"

Weiss head turned, genuine surprise shined across his face. "What?"

Nanami didn't say anything just simply wanting to hear an answer. She was waiting. Her face wasn't that of an interrogator. It was just simple curiosity, which made it harder to not answer.

Weiss shook his head and looked at the floor, "I'm surprised you asked… why do you want to know?"

Nanami wouldn't let him change the subject, "I need to know. You owe me this."

Weiss scratched the back of his head, there didn't seem to be an easy way not to answer her. There wouldn't be another time to tell her and after a moment of thought he finally told her, "I'm… I'm here to inspect the game." Nanami didn't know what that was supposed mean, but kept listening. Weiss went on. "I'm not a normal player. I'm from a far away place that has interest in Shibuya. A different very different game master wanted me to come here. I'd tell you more if I could... but I can't talk about that. I forced my way into this game. I died on purpose at Pork City. It was the last thing about this city I had to inspect."

Nanami almost panicked at the thought, "You died on purpose?" Then she tried to regain her composure. He was telling her what he could and she needed to just take it in.

Weiss shook his head in wonder why that was a question she'd ask, "There's little risk in it for me. I thought I was strong enough to get through any of this game's trials. Shibuya is much harder than a some other games I've been in. It makes sense in a way. Consider the population and the creative imagination Shibuya imprisons. But…"

Nanami needed for him to finish, "But..?"

Weiss answered, "I think the Reapers don't appreciate my entrance. The Composer will most likely want me erased… They sent Okami to do it. That or they're overzealous about erasing players." Which given the circumstances wasn't impossible.

Week 1, Day 7: Come with me

_As adrenaline flows through the blood of the hunted, you fight or flee against the howling Reapers. Now at the crossroad you choose, fight or flight. 10 minutes and then the hunt begins. If you come to the hunter you'll face him alone. If you run from hunter, then the hunter shall pursue with many other wolves. If you face the fangs of the lone wolf you'll fight it alone. Fight or flight. The scent is fresh, the die is cast. You have ten minutes to decide._ – The Reapers

"He definitely wants us to fight him." Nanami said looking at the game master's face. It practically begged them to try fighting him. Weiss pointed out what the meaning of the message meant, "It's a choice of either running from him or fighting him. If we ran he'd have additional Reaper backup… knowing him… that could be deadly. If we face him we'll have to kill him. Either way this isn't a real choice."

Nanami turned her head with a thought on her mind, "Maybe running isn't so bad. That's how we survived this long. But it really depends on how strong the help is. I doubt it could be stronger than him though."

Weiss wasn't convinced, "I think running has a catch to it. Nothing ends by running away. In the end all things have to be faced, Okami is no different. I say we face him."

Nanami couldn't help but think Weiss was taking the second option too lightly. They could win if they just managed to stay away from him long enough. Although she of all people had to admit that Okami wasn't the type to leave a second option. One of them was certain death. How strong was a game master? How strong were they? So many questions and such little time to calculate.

Weiss took a few steps toward Okami, "Running away is a trick. Okami would never let there be a chance that we'd get out of this game without facing him first. He's excited… can't you tell. The bloodlust in that guy isn't natural, even for a Reaper. Do you honestly think he'd let us get out by running? It's as simple as it always is. We defeat the Game Master."

Nanami couldn't deny that Okami wanted to fight them. But then again, that's partly why she didn't want to fight him. Still it was a tough choice for her, "Fight or flight… Fine… game master or no… I'll fight!" It wasn't easy for her to say that. Okami was a scary guy and she had no idea just how scary he was. They made their choice and both approached the building where he stood. Right in the center of the towering city the crosswalk they waited for Okami to be a gracious host and greet them.

"You both want to fight! Glorious! This dog had no greater wish! I will face you with all that I am."

Nanami had a few things to say, "Just one thing…"

Okami hopped off the building and slammed into the pavement. Cracks in the concrete gave her an idea just how far he jumped.

"Ask your question, bitch." It was odd, but she could feel a double meaning to what he called her. But the so far that's what he always called women. Except for Serenade.

"Why did you become a Reaper?"

That was a long story, but Okami felt like making it short, "I hate this city.. I hate everything about this city… And I intend to do everything in my power to watch it burn. That's why I am a Reaper now."

Nanami couldn't believe it, "Hate? Is that all?"

Okami paused a moment, it wasn't the only reason, "When love dies… it decomposes into hate. When she died, so did this city."

Weiss smiled and nodded, "Her name wasn't Serenade was it? When she died you blamed your own lack of power for her death. It was true, if you were stronger you could have saved her from the Noise."

Okami's eyes widened and his face began to fume with rage, "What?..." He grunted.

Weiss kept pushing his luck, "I think… you both died together. She was your partner and you failed to keep her alive. You became a Reaper when you had the choice to come back to life. What was the point of living without her? After she was erased you refused to allow her to stay dead. You wanted power, the power of the composer. So now you kill until you're strong enough to kill the composer. Poetic… But hate will only end in self destruction. You chose the path of destruction when you became a Reaper. You chose the path of man lost to hatred, you even keep your memories of her in the form of a Noise. That was Serenade right? She was beautiful."

Nanami honestly never stopped being surprised with what Weiss said. But what was more surprising was that Okami began to laugh at those words. "You sound just like him… Neku."

Nanami turned her head as she recalled hearing that name before. Weiss could only frown at that, "Neku… what business have you had with him?" Okami had no intention of telling him. Weiss tried again with a quick little sparkle in his eyes, "Tell me, how did you learn of Neku."

Okami blurted it out as if compulsion, "I was watching the Composer speaking to Neku. The Composer has talked to Neku several times. Neku said Joshua has lost himself. Not to hatred, but he spoke of Joshua the way you spoke of me. What the hell?! What is this magic! I see now! I see! You shouldn't be here at all should you? Oh... well you'll get yours. You'll face fang and claw." Okami was done talking it was time to kill. "Mess with a wolf… you get the pack!"

With gritted teeth Okami growled and all muscles in his body tensed. Every powerful Reaper had a transformation, a fusion of Noise and Reaper. This Reaper in particular had an easy to guess release form. With light emitting from his body, the dark moon rose. A pitch black ray emitted over the scramble crossing. Weiss and Nanami took a few steps back as a slit eyes stared them down. Okami's release, Canis Cantis or "Singing dog", stood between them and life. He howled to the moon and it went from pitch black to a sort of eclipse. Night Noise came to aid him. But after howling for a long time in his dog form, the howling eventually stopped. He shifted back to human after releasing the Noise, but his dog form was far stronger than normal. It was the type of Noise form that could only appear on condition. Something to do with the moon and the Noise, no doubt. It was time to fight or die.

Okami began by forcing Nanami and Weiss into different zones. One would face Noise and one would face Okami in human form. Okami would start with fighting Weiss, "The hunt begins! Well my prey, shall we?"

Weiss responded by rushing toward him with speed that surpassed his usual. He launched his body at Okami with a jump and let loose a volley of plasma shots each one larger with every passing blast. Okami alternated between left and right closing in closer to Weiss. As a close ranged fighter he'd have the upper hand if he got close, "Smell the blood!"

The Reaper let loose a few punch swings with streaks of energy behind them. One hit the ground causing a pillar of energy to burst from the street. The other caused an explosion against Weiss' chest. Weiss went flying back and the grin on his face told Okami that he left something behind. Okami turned around to see a glowing energy bomb. He got a new bomb psych? Oh crap. The bomb let out a blast in all directions dealing damage to the game master and his ego. Although not as much as it should have done.

Nanami had to deal with plenty of wolf Noise. Each of them varied in both power and speed. Some could move a great deal faster, but could easily be blocked by her notebook. They were a mix of Night Noise and regular Noise. Some could let loose powerful attacks but easily be avoided. Nanami did several quick slashes in her book toward the ones that were slow and easy to hit. The more damage on them she could manage, the better. Hitting the fast ones would best be a task left for area attacks or fusion pins. Nanami had no delusions that they wouldn't be using a fusion attack and in all reality was planning to use one as quickly as possible. The wolves weren't making it hard to build up the energy to do so. Weiss was up against the real opponent and she was lucky enough just to have to face his wolf Noise. The fact that Weiss was actually having trouble meant that the desperation wouldn't be from her for once. Every good fusion attack had a hint of desperation and Weiss would provide that soon enough. Surprisingly enough, Nanami had no trouble dealing with the slow Noise and then quickly finished off the fast Noise. Interesting, she erased them faster than she predicted. Normal Noise or not, they died very fast. After fighting Serenade Noise didn't seem as much as a threat. she didn't have any Noise left and she could now see Okami. That's what happened! If you erased the Noise fast enough you could double team Okami for massive damage. One odd thing was the moon. It was changing. Not based on the defeated Noise, but on how much time went by. It was gradually becoming a full moon.

Weiss caught sight of Nanami, she was able to join his zone if all the wolves were defeated. Which was great, because he needed help. Okami had too much power to deal with directly, he felt the need for some ranged attacks and the need was very easy to feel. Perhaps the reason ranged seemed so appealing was that Okami's thrashing could hit Weiss every time when he got too close. Nanami took advantage of the fact Okami was quite literally chasing Weiss as if a wolf were chasing a scared rabbit. Nanami made a few more scratches on her notebook and the picture of a chain. The chain wrapped around Okami's arms and Weiss managed to let loose a few sonic slashes in his face and echo blasts. The chain promptly snapped and Okami said in a surprisingly calm manner, "Howl to the moon!" The moon shifted to a half moon. He could hear a howl, but he couldn't see Okami.

Weiss could only detect four Noise before him. He'd have to deal with them quickly in order to help Nanami. He could only guess that she was alone with Okami and he found the thought terrifying. Using his speed and high attack power he managed to hit the fast Noise first. Then came the question of how he'd deal with the slow ones. A smug expression said it all. He zipped by the wolf and whatever he did it must have missed. Nothing happened to the wolf. It snarled at him and then heard something behind it. It turned to look. There was a psych bomb behind it. The explosion killed it easily. Honestly those bombs packed a punch, but they could easily be dodged before they exploaded. . The other wolf didn't fall for the same trick. It moved before it exploded. With all the speed it could muster it went straight for Weiss, it charged with grit fangs and red eyes. The black wolf had no difficulty reaching Weiss, but had difficulty staying near him. Sonic rings and echo blasts went off limiting it's movement. The wolf dodged, but then a lightning bolt nailed it. These Noise weren't particularly powerful and ultimately a lot players would be unimpressed. But the real threat wasn't these Noise, it was Okami. Nanami probably needed help.

Nanami REALLY needed help. The only thing she remembered doing since the zone changed was blocking. She blocked again and again. After every attack it got harder to block and it may have been a combination of fatigue or Okami hitting harder every time. She combined movement with blocking, but the bastard was fast. Okami's strength kept rising the power of his soul was tremendous. It was worse than she thought. The question crossed her mind if she should have ran, "No… running would never solve anything." Okami let lose another punch hitting her notebook. She could usually use her notebook to downright blow an enemy back if she blocked with it. But against Okami, she was the one who presented the lesser amount of force. She didn't even manage to attack him, he attacked too fast and hit too hard. She studied him for an opening, there was nothing to study. He was a rampaging beast. Luckily the next blow didn't reach her, Weiss left a present on the ground near Okami. The explosion blew the game master away. At least the blast didn't effect her at all. Probably couldn't hit partners. Nanami immediately got up and scratched in her notebook to launch a damaging volley at Okami.

Just wearing him down was a good idea. More pen scratches and she completed a picture of a wall. She activated her psych to cause a wall to rise up next to Okami. It came crashing down and served two purposes. One it controlled his movement and two if it didn't it'd fall on him. That was the theory. But Okami just came crashing through it. OK... not what she hoped for. She readied her notebook and closed it. Not to block, but to hit him where it hurt. Weiss launched plasma and lightning in Okami's direction. Okami didn't dodge, he just charged straight through them. Oh crap. So it looked like he wasn't slowing down. Weiss tried something else. Getting between him and Nanami and readying his shockwave. He let loose a combo flurry, but only got kicked out of the way. Well when Okami stopped to kick, Nanami didn't stop. She hit him right in the head with her notebook and he went flying. That attack was actually pretty damaging. But Okami charged back just as soon as he came. He was right back at Nanami and he wasn't getting hit this time. He was going to shred her. Nanami wasn't even going to block. Oh he was going to tear her apart. Luckily Weiss could at least desperately tackle him. He and Okami exchanged a few blows, but it wasn't an even trade. Weiss wasn't as tough as this guy in close combat. Weiss took four blows before jumping back. He was huffing and puffing. This merited a healing pin.

"Damn.. this guy is pretty tough." Nanami said as she tried to finish another picture. When Okami decided to change up the game. He pointed at the moon. It was just about full. Oh crap. That wasn't going to be good was it?

Okami started charging up. "Slake the bloodlust, unleash the beast!" Nanami was forced into another zone. This time she could see only the moon before her. The black moon let loose a shining black light and empowered Noise appeared. Noise again? Those were easy enough to deal with. But these noise didn't attack. They just stood there. The moment one of them took a hit, it vanished and reappeared elsewhere. Wait? Were they even dying? They were just taking hits, dying and coming right back. Wait! What was she supposed to do? She couldn't be forced into another zone without a way out. Nanami most likely had to find a hiding Noise or something, but what was her target? A special Noise? No she hit them all. Meanwhile on Weiss' zone he had to face Okami in a wolf form. Okami couldn't be in wolf form without the full moonlight on his zone. Nanami had to do something. But she didn't know what to do.

Weiss was a pretty solid player. Fast and a wide variety of moves. But there wasn't jack he could do against this. When Okami was in his full wolf form. He stopped fighting and started slaughtering. Weiss was using his attack pins to defend. Anything and everything to just get away from that monster. It wasn't like it had anything special about it. No energy beams or fancy mechanics. It was a wolf and it was fast. The moonlight was the only thing keeping him in that form. With the moonlight he was more or less invincible.

Nanami could feel Weiss on the other end. But she couldn't help. Dammit that moon was making Okami stupid powerful. Wait... the moon! Nanami looked up at that artificial moon and tried something crazy. She sent pen strikes at the damned thing and guess what? They hit. Her target was the moon! She stopped and focused. She remembered her fight with Serenade and remembered that memories gave power. There was a few seconds of calm, collecting thoughts and memories to use. Then she opened her eyes just in time to sent a massive pen strike at the moon. Another couple of pen attacks and the moon was in pieces. Now to help Weiss.

XXXXXX

"Alright thanks." Neku got off the phone as he waited for Beat. Beat had recently done his best work lately. The design was outstanding and easily fit on the back of any proud skateboard. Beat was good at skating and Neku used his resources to sponsor him at every skating event. Some might say that Neku only did it to help out a friend, but it actually worked out pretty well. Neku would often use Beat as personal advertisement for his company. Neku realized years ago that there was a lot in Shibuya that had to change. A lot of broken dreams and promises. Neku as a young man made it his personal agenda to change Shibuya. Change it he did, he wanted to encourage the city to live and live well. The first step of making his company was writing a book. Neku was no writer and Hanekoma almost laughed when he first presented his story. Hanekoma dabbled a bit in writing and agreed to help him with his book as he wrote it. The book was about his story about the Underground and the Reaper's Game.

Overall the story was labeled as complete fiction, but he told it from a first person perspective. The reason for that was, that was what actually happened to him. It was a good story and it was larger than life. Hanekoma may have thrown in an imprint or two on the cover to get people to buy it. A Producer like him was a master at making imprints that caught the public's eye. As for speaking about the Underground, Joshua didn't seem to care. No one believed it as real, so no doubt it'd be fine. There was no rule about a player telling about his experiences either. It might be against the rules if a Reaper or Composer did it, but Neku was in the clear.

The book sold extremely well across and beyond Shibuya. The problem Joshua faced was… some people actually believed it to be true. Even more believed it when they actually died. The ramifications were less players being erased. The more people understood the game, the more people got through the game. Neku may have been planning it all along. Joshua was never outfoxed, he was the Composer and he reigned over his city. Joshua responded by making Sho Minamimoto Conductor. It wasn't like he had much of a choice at the time. Megumi was his best pair of hands; it was almost shameful that he had to die. In all honesty, Joshua was hoping he'd be proven wrong that day. Megumi wasn't able to.

With Sho as Conductor, it became an easy task to keep order among the Reapers. In terms of power it was only fitting that he be second in command. Sho was also far beyond normal intelligence. As Conductor he was fully capable of judging talent and calculating the chances of a player's survival. It took a few times with Sho as game master to really break in the new Reapers and Sho made more than a few promotions. Kariya was immediately promoted, much to Kariya's displeasure but unfortunately Minamimoto never gave him a choice. They needed another capable Game Master. Over time two new Reapers showed up who joined the ranks of Sho's personal group of game masters. Kotori proved fully capable to eliminate players, so much so… she rarely had to directly challenge players. Kotori was a trickster and a calculating Reaper who preferred to use puzzles to kill. She was the perfect substitute for Konishi. Kotori had organization which Sho desperately needed, but Sho had power which Kotori desperately wanted. Overall they'd make a good pair until one had to kill the other. Kotori would just have to make sure that Sho didn't find a reason to kill her. With Kariya and Kotori in his high ranking Reapers, Sho found one more thing interesting: Okami.

Okami was the second new Reaper under his command. Sho could quickly find promise in him. He was more than capable of killing every player, often before day six. In fact never once had anyone ever made it past his day six. Players were harder to eliminate now. Kariya argued that Neku's new book might have had something to do with players being more clever than the last batch. Players were aware of Neku's story. Even if they personally never read it, what was to say that they might have heard pieces of it? Even a piece of information could change a game. A game that brought back the dead. A game that Neku had won. Joshua had his team, but paid little heed to the Reaper's Game. He had more important work ahead of him. The Noise were growing slower than expected now and indeed Shibuya was changing. But the Noise wouldn't stay quiet for long. There's no way everyone could erase enough Noise. In his desperation he turned once again to Hanekoma. The ex-Producer was still useful and would never truly be a normal human. Hanekoma just helped people. But he might not be able to help Joshua this time.

Hanekoma helped Neku with his book and from there Neku was able to take Shibuya by storm. Neku could see Noise still and even go so far as to erase them. This lead to more than a few successes. By erasing the Noise from anyone who needed a clear head, Neku got everything he needed without fail. Hanekoma must have planned Neku's success and Joshua even played small parts in assisting Neku. Even if it were cat's paw or from the shadows, Joshua found some satisfaction of thinking of Neku as a friend. Even if he regularly amused himself at poor Neku's expense.

Joshua was at the crossroads, choosing a method to save Shibuya. It seemed the Noise had ingrained itself so deep into Shibuya that not even he could erase the Noise without erasing Shibuya. Joshua had the option of damage control or making so much damage that the Noise couldn't possibly survive. But if he were careless, he too would die. The timer on his hand reminded him of his condition with the city. If the city died, so would he. Joshua had long forgotten the fear of death and the power of Composer was limitless until now. To think that Noise were causing this much of a problem was unthinkable. Hanekoma was researching every day how to separate the Noise from Shibuya. There weren't a lot of promising results. Joshua could remember upfront what Hanekoma told him, "You're going to need help. And neither you nor they are going to like what you're going to have to do to get it. One of you needs to ask for help. You're gonna break first… you're life is on the line. If you let pride get to you, well… you may as well feed the city to the Noise."

Hanekoma had a lot of advice and help to offer. Joshua needed all of it. But now a moment passed where Joshua had to question if Hanekoma was right. Asking help from the angels, the very people who put the timer on his hand and stripped Hanekoma of his wings? They were the ones who made deals with the Noise. No, he didn't want their help. He really didn't want to ask for their help. If there was any way he could make this work without them, then he would. But as things stood, Hanekoma seemed to be right. He needed help for this and even if he wanted to ask. He needed someone to take his place as Composer. Ideally it'd be Neku.

XXXXXXXXXX

Neku stood leaning against a store waiting for Beat to arrive. This may well have been a complete waste of time if he wasn't waiting for Beat. The shout the owner yet again proved the manager failed to get the store. "I ain't sellin!"

Neku had long given up reasoning with captain old. He just had to buy out the store when he stopped making payments. It would go out of business soon enough, likely because the owner of the store wouldn't sell anything. Upon some investigation he hadn't made a single sale in weeks. He hoped Beat might take his mind off of this crap.

When Beat arrived Neku stood taller, but only because Beat was slouching. Beat was naturally taller, which was odd. Out of Beats family he was taller than his parents and sister. He approached Neku with a wrist-bump (not fist bump). Beat often wore clothes you could skate in and of course he didn't wear a helmet. That took the danger out of it. People who said 'wear a helmet' were the same people who said 'wear a seatbelt'. Rhyme actually made Beat a protective skull mask for his next gig. It offered all the protection Beat was willing to take. He mostly just wanted to wear a skull mask while he skated.

Neku wore fairly common clothes for the owner of a multi million dollar company. Beat and he didn't look like they were made of money. But the culture here didn't exactly match the norm. "Zup phones!" Beat greeted and finished his wrist bump.

"Does it look good?" Neku was talking about his new design. He motioned over to Beats new board and his new equipment. Skeleton themed equipment. Although next time they were going with a ninja theme. They made good stuff. "Bone ninja. Nice." It was actually pretty cool. Neku didn't skate and he already wanted one of those.

Beat nodded and pointed with a thumb to the girl behind him, "Rhyme had my back. It's always good, yo!"

Neku looked her direction. Out of the whole gang Rhyme looked the most professional. Actually she'd gotten really pretty in six years. Long stylish blonde hair and business casual. Honestly she looked like she wore clothes to make herself look older. She looked younger than she was and it was hard enough getting people older than her to respect her. So she used a sterner voice for when she was working. She normally had a soft voice. In fact she dare not giggle while at the company, because people already thought she was little girly enough as it was. Her brother was pretty tall but she was capital S short. "How's your leg?" Neku asked.

She recovered from that car accident pretty fast. No crutches or bruises. "It's well. I'm not sure why I healed so quickly." It wasn't obvious really. The only person who could heal her that Neku knew was Joshua. And if Josh visited they wouldn't have known about it. Joshua didn't like giving the impression he was watching them, but they all knew he did. Sometimes things that looked like luck were really a watchful Composer. Good news. Rhyme wasn't mad that he didn't show up to see her sooner, "The bone should have been broken. But by the time Beat brought me to the hospital the pain stopped and the X ray showed no damage. Nothing to fuss over."

Beat felt that was underplaying it, "Rhyme, that car could have killed you. That's something to fuss over." Beat got more worried about his sister than anything else. He threw that skateboard away like it was nothing.

Rhyme smiled, "I suppose you're right. But we came here to talk to Neku about the new equipment. Not about the accident. I tried to give the skull mask safer. It protects his face just fine, but it doesn't protect his head."

Beat whined, "I don't need no damned protection."

Neku ended the argument early, "No, but your fans do. You've got kids that look up to you, Beat. They'll wear what you wear. Even if you did look stupid."

Rhyme was glad Neku saw things her way, "See, even Neku thinks you should wear something to protect your head."

Neku actually had something to say to her too, "Yeah, but we need it to look good. His fans won't want it if it doesn't look good. Make it protect his head first then make it look good. We don't make a lot of skating products, but the ones we make need to be worth the money. Make it safe and comfortable first. Then make it awesome. Beat you're in charge of making it awesome. Rhyme dig up what contacts you can and see the safety done."

Rhyme held up her phone, "Already on speed dial. Did you finally buy this store?"

The shout from inside the store let her know, "I ain't sellin!"

Neku crossed his eyes in annoyance, "You tell me."

Rhyme was disappointed, "I see…"

Neku wouldn't let her worry about it. "Let's get Shiki, I actually had another reason to talk to you two." If this was about the wedding Rhyme sighed. She totally needed to get a boyfriend. Probably one day she'd doll herself up and just go sit somewhere. Somewhere FAR away from work. Actually Eri might know a few good spots. Boys were eating out of her hand like candy, but then Eri could say she worked as a model. Which was half true. Even Eri was trying to find someone to settle down with right about now. Plenty of relationships, but she was looking for one that might last. Rhyme just had to start looking, period. Neku and Shiki getting married kinda reminded the rest of them that they shouldn't be too far behind. Rhyme didn't even have a boyfriend and even Beat had plenty of girls he was meeting. Rhyme had no idea how that was going, but at least he was meeting new people. Dang, she didn't know anybody.

Then she had to focus. "Where are we meeting up?" It was crazy how much could go through your mind without even a facial twitch.

Neku didn't even have to answer, just motion to the Beat's stomach. It growled.

Rhyme got it. Food. "Oh yeah, of course."

Beat's stomach made him think only of food at this hour. No doubt Neku would pay for his meal. Neku always got free food at any store he owned. He didn't own many food places, but he owned enough for Beat to religiously fill himself up. One had curry and no doubt that's where they'd go.

Shiki had a habit of being the last one to arrive. After a push of her glasses she rushed to the hachiko statue. Her phone was vibrating with a message from work, but she was too busy running past traffic to pick it up. "Someday I'm going to be hit by a bus I swear…" She finally caught up to the Hachiko statue. Neku asked them to meet up, which was a rarity. He was often busy with work. Even more surprising he was wearing fairly common clothes meaning it wasn't business related. Her Mr. Mew purse actually contained a Mr. Mew doll just in case. The only thing was, it was actually fairly common to have one of Shiki's dolls. A lot of girls bought them. Or boys… hoping to buy them for girls. Or boys who actually weren't buying them for a girl. Usually the clerk wouldn't judge. Shiki caught up with them. "I'm here!" Shiki huffed and pushed her glasses up yet again. The girl checked her phone to see that work was texting her.

Of course Neku kissed her in public. In Japan that was considered offensive, but why should he care. He was marrying her, he could kiss her whenever he damned well pleased. Shiki never really could decide if she liked that he did that or hated it. On one hand it was nice, but on the other hand it was embarrassing. Rhyme and Beat were looking too. Mostly they just smirked.

"Yo, phones!" Shiki looked up to see Beat pointing at Joshua. Why the hell was he there? He took the same form as when they first met.

Joshua was on the phone as well and just hanging up. "You know… 'phones' is a good nickname for me too."

Neku immediately glared in the direction of Joshua. He was waiting for this wasn't he? Of course he'd show up too. What was he planning this time? Joshua was too clever to be trusted, even if he did bring Neku back to life. Neku had long since figured the best thing to do when seeing Joshua was run. Not a bad plan for most. But Neku was fairly confident Joshua was gay. It must have been the way Joshua presented himself. Shiki could disagree, Rhyme wasn't sure and Beat was too busy not listening to ever pick an opinion. "Heard you're getting married soon. Mind if I come to the wedding? I've already picked out your present." Joshua was definitely up to something. The smug look on his face screamed it.

"What do you want?" Neku was quick to get to the point. Neku wanted to talk to the whole gang, sure, but he didn't want Joshua to tag along.

"I just wanted to chat. Hoping to see if Neku could be stolen for a little while." Joshua said this half hearted while texting on his phone.

Neku could only roll his eyes, "No…"

Joshua smirked and looked up from his phone, "I always wondered why you always played hard to get. Really Neku, you should listen more to other people. You and Shiki will need to listen to each other for a happy marriage. Nice to see you too, Beat. Hello Rhyme." He got the greetings out of the way.

Neku couldn't help but take everything Joshua said as either a threat or a flirt. In this case he didn't know what Joshua was up to. Joshua went ahead and explained the situation for Neku. "Well… either way you've probably noticed two things. One is the increase of Noise. If enough Noise become thick enough… Shibuya is going to be going through some tough times."

Rhyme asked him, "But… you're Composer, right? You could just… use your power right?"

Joshua smirked and told her, "I love what you've done with your hair. Makes you look prettier than me. But no… The Composer can't just erase all the Noise in Shibuya. If I could there would never have been many Noise here in the first place. The only way I could erase all the Noise is if Shibuya went with it… which… I was thinking about doing a while back."

Shiki stopped him there, "That's wrong and you know it!"

Neku put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "What's the second thing I should have noticed?"

Joshua got to the point, "That symbol in the sky. You can see it, right? It's moving." Joshua brushed a strand of hair out of his eye, "Neku, I'll need your help. I may need you to play a game in order to help thin out the Noise. I wish I could ask someone else, but I'm afraid there's few replacements. You're the best."

Neku stopped him there, "No way." His friends actually wondered why he refused so quickly. This could be a good idea. But then Neku just said no. Best let Joshua try reasoning with him.

Joshua had to exhale a sigh. "Neku… do you know what's going to happen if you let the Noise stand idle? Shibuya will be destroyed and everything in it."

Neku gave a quick answer. This was personal, "You forced me into the last game I was in… You're not forcing me into another. Unlike last time… this time… I got something to live for."

Joshua nodded his head and said, "Very good Neku… you learned the meaning of life. But if you don't save this city… blood is going to be on your hands. You have the power to stop the Noise. Whatever you're living for, the Noise will devour it."

Neku wasn't going to be tricked into another game, "Your hands are already bloody. My blood in particular! You have the power to stop the Noise and you know it! I know you got a way and you're just trying to test Shibuya again. I don't believe for one minute that you need me to save this city!"

Joshua looked at the whole group and noted that all of them were standing by Neku. Even if they didn't agree with him. Joshua wasn't lying this time. Even they noticed. He needed Neku to play this game and he needed him to willing agree to play. "The fact of the matter is I can't save this city without you, Neku. It doesn't matter if you can't trust me, you can trust the Noise are going to get stronger and stronger until they strike."

Neku actually gathered his friends to talk about this very problem. But he was still bitter from before. Sure he might grudgingly be willing to help Joshua, but not without hearing some details. The thing is Joshua couldn't tell him the details. The details would only make this harder.

Joshua's eyes said he was plotting something, "Is there anything I could tell you to make you fight the Noise?" Neku's eyes told Joshua his answer. "Fine… I'll leave you all be. But don't forget… you have my number if you change your mind." Joshua might not be able to convince him. But his friends hearing that might make them try talking to him.

XXXX

"Weiss I'm taking out the moon! It's the source of Okami's power." Nanami had to hit that thing hard and she was doing a good job of it. The moon was Okami's psych. It's what created the Night Noise. To make Taboo or special noise you had to use symbols and soul power to modify them. Night Noise were made by using the moon as a catalyst. Nanami couldn't destroy the moon. Even if she cut off pieces or did damage that should obliterate it, it would just repair itself. But every time the moon took damage it lost some of it's glow. It receded into a half moon, then a crescent. When the moon turned completely black is when Okami was going to change back into human form.

Weiss had never fought anything as fast as Okami in wolf form. It wasn't a fight so much, it was him trying his best to survive. The wolf form was insanely fast and all it did was rush past him and do it's very best to bite him. The bite was nasty, it aimed for his arms and throat. But it had teeth enough to bite wherever it wanted. Okami gave himself fully to his animal. It stopped scratching and biting a moment and just started racing around him. With every mad rush a wave of colorful energy would block Weiss back. Okami didn't make any direct attack, but he didn't need to. The speed made him impossible to hit and the energy around him was weapon enough. With ever charge Okami would say a few words, "Feel the fang!" It knocked Weiss in a direction.

"Rend!" It hit Weiss in another direction.

"Devour!" It came in for the bite and it bit. Instead of an open wound there was static.

"Never enough blood!" Weiss wasn't a ragdoll. But he was starting to feel like one. He hit Okami with a lightning bolt and some Sonic rings to get him to loosen up his bite enough to get out. Okami losened his bite, but only to rush past him.

"Die under moon's shadow!" It was about all that Weiss could handle. Every second seemed to tick slower and slower. He used a healing pin and got some results. But really he needed to take out Okami. Weiss was just about to get hit again when Okami shifted from a dog back to a human. It wasn't by Okami's choice, he was forced. While not entirely unexpected, Okami was just a hair off balance. Ordinary players wouldn't have been able to counter. But Weiss and Nanami weren't normal. They hammered him for all they were worth. Nanami hit him with a few slashes from her pen and Weiss got the opportunity to use shockwaves on him.

Okami wasn't just in human form, he was weaker now. He was vulnerable after changing back from his Noise form. The bastard still had inhuman amounts of stamina even after taking the bolts of plasma and sonic rings. He took the hits and started running. He went after Nanami. What strength he lost after changing into a wolf Noise wasn't diminished. He started swinging and Nanami dodged. She didn't have the time to block. Although this was more risky, she had to damage him as much as possible. She revealed a picture of a blade and then swung her notebook. The picture came to life temporarily and made a little ink sword that slashed unrealistically large swipes. Okami was cut by one of them and realized something that infuriated him. These kids were making him sweat. Lightning followed the ink sword slash. When Nanami's ink sword vanished, she went right back to nailing him with pen strikes.

Okami let loose a cry of pain and then Weiss took the hint. Weiss put everything he had into an attacking with bolts of energy or sonic waves while he had the chance. After a loud grunt Okami let loose a pulse of energy which blew both of them back. "Cry for me, Serenade." Okami clenched both fists and summoned his trusty wolf Noise. It was the very same Serenade that was defeated on day 6. The wolf version of her.

Weiss could see the pin of a wolf change into Serenade, "He put all his memories of her in that pin… That's how he's able to summon her at will. Destroy the pin or take her out. " Serenade was actually able to fight Nanami for a while. Fighting both her and Okami seemed downright unfair.

Okami elaborated, "It's the part of me that made me soft… It's my weakness… The memories of her were… keeping me from being a true Reaper." That's when he and the wolf and he howled at the same time. The moon was filling up faster. When it filled up Okami was going to become the big bad wolf and that meant trouble for all the red riding hoods and Players. He went after Nanami thinking she was the weak link in the chain. Serenade was distracting Weiss.

Nanami cut to him with words and her psych, "It's the part of you that made you human! You didn't want to think about her… she made you feel bad for what you're doing! She asked me to erase you in order to give her peace. To stop you from descending further into madness." Her pen strikes actually were making Okami dodge. He didn't want to get hit any more, that meant he was weakening.

Okami had to scoff before ranting. He started punching and slashing with his fingernails wildly. "Don't misunderstand! humans are animals! We're savage in nature! Just like this city, savage and bloodthirsty! I chose to become the very thing that destroyed me. The face of this city! I embrace destruction as a Reaper and when I become strong enough to face the Composer… I'll destroy this place! I'll destroy everything!" With that he readied his ultimate technique. The moon filled up faster when they both howled. "Serenade! Sing to the moon!" The blue wolf howled with him in unison and it filled up even more. Until the moon finished charging.

With a flash of black, Nanami was alone with Okami. Being alone with a madman wasn't exactly a pleasant thought, but she could guess being in the other zone wouldn't be good either. Okami shifted into his wolf form. He was using the power of the moon to do so. Weiss had to take out that moon from his zone. Nanami had made a decision. She opened up her book and began scribbling in it while hoping in a zig-zag pattern while drawing. Super Okami appeared near her and slashed. He barely missed as Nanami hopped away. Nanami kept hopping in an unpredictable pattern while writing. It was the same way a gazelle avoided much faster predators like wolves. Wolves had trouble catching them like that. Although the pattern didn't make her unhittable. It was far preferable than running in a straight line. Okami stopped her pattern by slashing both claws. One claw hit and Nanami had to block. Nanami had finished her picture and grinned as Okami came up to hit her. With a jump and slash of the book a cage appeared around Okami. "You know… you can learn a lot from nature shows. There's some things even wolves have trouble getting out of." She showed Okami a picture of a cage and it fell out of the sky right on him. Maybe only a few seconds, but at least it'd buy Weiss a little more time.

Weiss was shooting that moon, but it was hard to get a good hit off with Serenade constantly coming at his every opening. It wasn't just Serenade now. There were other Noise appearing and jumping in the way of the moon. They didn't want the moon to be taken out. Smart of them. The heavier the hit Weiss sent at the moon the more likely one sacrificed itself. Weiss looked at Serenade. She didn't want to fight, she wanted this to end. She was being controlled and her eyes pleading to be let free. Weiss had to help. Nanami wasn't going to last long and he had to take out that moon. He dropped a bomb behind him and kept firing at the moon. The bomb psych did it's job. It wasn't there to destroy anything, it was so the Noise couldn't see him after the dust kicked everywhere. The explosion gave him some cover to shoot the moon. Then he went after the Night Noise. Zipping around and cutting them with a shockwave. The moment the moon and Noise had enough Weiss appeared to see Nanami was alright. She was using massive amounts of psych power, but she kept Okami in a cage. It just now broke. Okami was human again.

Okami smirked, "I don't know how you got to this zone, but the Noise came too. Fool…"

Weiss pointed up and the moon was gone. "Moonlight is your resource! If you don't have it you can't control these damn things!" Wait. The moon was what Okami used to control the Noise. If they weren't being controlled. The Night Noise rampantly attacked everyone. Including Okami. He beat them off with pure fury. "Serenade! Keep them back!"

She didn't.

Okami's eyes looked upon Serenade, "Come Serenade! We must erase these players! We must grow in power so that one day the Composer will die."

"No Okami. You need to stop. You've become the very monster that destroyed us. You've got to stop."

Okami's face went from angry to crazy. It was smiling, then twitching. The eyes in some sort of glazed trance. "Serenade? No not Serenade. Serenade would never betray me. She would never feed me to the dogs."

Serenade tried to explain, "I'm not betraying you Okami. You must stop this madness. Stop this, please. Let them go. Find some way to become human and honor my memory."

Okami didn't even listen. He went straight for Weiss. "You! You turned her against me! You poisoned her mind! This is your fault! I'll tear you to pieces!"

Weiss and Nanami were ready. It was time for the ultimate fusion. Nanami let loose all her power and Weiss spared no expense either. Both were them were fully in sync. They gathered their power and put it all into Nanami's notebook. Nanami opened her notebook and pointed it at Okami. It shot a white blast of light hitting the remaining Noise and Okami. After they were hit they were all sucked into the notebook. No matter how they tried they couldn't escape. When Okami opened his eyes he was in a great white empty place. He couldn't see Nanami or Weiss. There was all the Noise, Serenade and himself. Suddenly slashes went across all of his Noise and Serenade. Slash after slash each doing damage. They looked looked like a pen streak that disappeared. Okami then realized where he was. "You think this book can hold me?!" Nanami had to act fast. With every moment she was running out of time to strike every second counted. The Noise went first and Serenade just vanished, it's like she just game up.

"Now for Okami!" Nanami said to Weiss. Updating him on her progress. She slashed her pen across her paper against an ink version of Okami. He wouldn't be trapped much longer. The final fusion had a limit, but it was long enough for her to completely cover the ink Okami in black.

When Okami appeared back in the real world he was covered in slashes. His clothes were torn and there was static blood dripping from his face. This was it for him. Weiss and Nanami were dead tired, but he was actually dying. He wouldn't take another blow, well he could, but the problem was he couldn't strike back.

"This beaten dog… still has teeth…" Okami muttered a final threat as Weiss and Nanami's timer disappeared. He was still making threats even after being completely harmless. They had hours left and Okami had already pushed them to the limit. But the week was over. Weiss took a few steps toward Okami, "I'm going to finish this. Someone like you who craves destruction… should not be allowed to live." Nanami wanted to protest, but before she could she was interrupted by a very fast Reaper.

"You don't find a solution this way. First outer inner last. First there's you. After that there's the outside people around you learn from. Then you look inside yourself... last... you realize the world is garbage. That's how it works." There was a flash of gray and Okami was over Sho's shoulder. The Conductor showed up to make sure they didn't erase him. "As for you two. Congratulations." He pointed at them and smirked a smile that looked more like a threat than a welcoming sign. "The Composer asked to see you. Tough luck, radians."

She was in a bright room with Weiss next to her. Sho, the Conductor, was the one who spoke and now she recognized him. The Game Master wasn't dead! You aren't supposed to call off the game early just to save a Reaper. Well whether or not they liked it, that's what Sho did. "I can't have any more subtractions in Reapers. I am the Conductor and I need footsoldiers like this one. That fight was zetta long. I congratulate you again, hectopascals."

Weiss had to comment, "So you're judging us based on the same way meteorologists measure air?"

Sho was amused he caught the reference, "Positive (Yes). But then… the world is garbage… much like you (You're garbage). Everyone's just pieces of junk (Everyone's garbage)… gathered together to make the perfectly calculated work of art (We're all a heap of junk)." They could see a pile of junk which Sho had clearly been working on for a while. In it's own little way it was impressive. How he managed to keep the ball of crap together was beyond Weiss. It was balanced in such a way it'd still stand. What was weirder was he did it all wearing a suit. He still looked like a mugger... in a suit… wearing a ballcap.

Nanami had to question, "There's no… art about that… it's just junk."

Sho had to explain, "But that's the beauty, yoctogram! There's nothing beautiful about the world! All feelings! All thoughts are all garbage. Infinite amounts of garbage. Now… speaking of garbage… I did the math…"

Sho pointed and Nanami, "The negative radiant (female player), you're to be brought back to life. The Composer told me as much!" The Conductor pointed at Weiss, "And you! Positive radiant (male player), you're to be iterated (judged). I leave all calculations involving you to the Composer. As instructed."

Apparently Sho referred to positive as male and negative radiants as female? Weiss didn't have much time to say his goodbyes to Nanami. Was this what he was so depressed about earlier? Did he know he was going to be in trouble? What was going on?

She had to understand, "So… you won't be brought back to life?"

Weiss shook his head, "No… I didn't pay a price so I guess it's up to the Composer what happens to be now. In worst case scenario, I could be erased."

Nanami had to say, "That's horrible! That can't happen! You beat the game! Fair and square."

Weiss smiled and shook his head, "That's for the Composer to decide. But even if I am erased it'll be alright. I enjoyed life very much and I enjoyed this game."

Nanami didn't understand and she didn't think she ever would, "Weiss… sometimes… I don't know what to say."

Weiss smiled at her and told her. This wasn't one of those fake smiles. This one was real. "Don't worry, your actions are always what really speak someone's heart. That's why we know each other, it's not about words… it never has been. We're both human and we both want to live. Live as best you can. If I'm brought back to life, I'll find you. It won't be too hard… Just never look back. Keep moving forward, don't ask what if questions and live your life. I'm glad to have met you. I'm sorry for everything." She disappeared before he could say more. Gone. The Composer wasn't to be kept waiting.

With his head bowed he entered the room with the Composer where his fate would be decided. His memories were coming back a little. His cares started to wash away. His eyes changed. Their color a brighter color. He put on his shades to hide his eyes and the fact he was shedding a tear. How uncool. He was crying before he could have died.

XXXXX

"They won." Thanatos muttered as once again he'd have to play the game. There was something strange about this last game proxy and something strange about the players. "What was his name... I never found out. But... To think that Okami can be beaten... if that's possible then what else might be possible?" The player mused to himself while waiting for the fate of those he left behind. "I keep on living, I keep on fighting and I want to stop. It's time I brought hell to those above me... it's time I repaid the Reapers for this curse they placed upon me. The Composer is going to give my price back this time... I'm not playing his damned game again." He'd ask for God as his witness if he believed there was one. It didn't matter, he just wanted to stop existing. If there was a God why did he let the world become what it was? A failed artist in life and a failed player in death. Thanatos was a being of power and failure. His depression deepened as he thought about his life and he thought about Weiss and Nanami. "I wonder why that boy lives... I should ask him... I'll find the answer. If he has a reason to live... I'll show him a reason to die." He needed to find that Weiss guy.

The depressed blue hair strung down as he looked at the floor. Emotions dry and eyes dreaming of an endless void, "Oh what a cruel world." Thanatos pulled out his player pin and gripped it tight, unable to crush it. "I'll end this... one way or another."

XXXXX

The Composer, the ruler of Shibuya, one step below a god, had a way of being best at everything. Joshua was interested, it was the first time in perhaps a year he was interested in anything involving a player. "So… You must be the anomaly that my Conductor spoke of." Joshua took the form of an angelic being. It was difficult to see him because of the light, but it was difficult to Joshua to see the player before him as well. He was shrouded in a fog that obscured even Joshua's vision. Normally Joshua could see everything about a human being just at a glance. "You have a colorful soul, tell me your name." Joshua already knew his name and much more.

Weiss kept his hands in his pockets and asked the Composer, "Do I intrigue you? I must say that you're far more intriguing than any Reaper." Weiss didn't seem to be baffled or confused. He had the look of a man who had no fear of death or respect for the divine.

Joshua was no different, "If you find interest in me, then it would be mutual for us to hear of the situation. You entered the game illegally. You entered my game without a price. Tell me why." Joshua couldn't see Weiss' soul. But he could still read a face. Any twitch or facial microexpression was all fair game.

Weiss could see that Joshua had no intention to dance around the subject. "I was placed in this game. I'm not from this city and unfortunately I'm not at liberty to say what exactly I'm doing here. You see… I'm just a pawn of a superior who lives far from this city." Not lying. But of course telling Joshua very little.

Joshua could guess a few things. He could be working or very well be a Composer from another city or dimension. He could be from another plane or he could be from Shibuya. The angels could be involved or the Noise could be involved. Should he sort it out? Should he just erase him? Certainly not. Hanekoma wasn't able to tell Joshua anything about this player. Joshua had a strange situation, not even he could read Weiss beyond knowing he was telling the truth. There weren't a lot of powers in the universe that could keep something hidden from Joshua. He had godlike power and could see into the souls of the living or dead. Weiss couldn't be read completely. Joshua spit out obvious facts, "You're no ordinary human. You have spiritual awareness, you've known about my game before you entered. You watched several games before actually participating, but this means little. You have little regard for your own life and serve some higher purpose by being here...The question remains of what to do with you." Joshua's gaze pierced Weiss' smile. It was fake and his eyes were hidden by his glasses. "Do you know I have the authority to erase you?"

Useless reactions. Weiss just nodded, "I'm well aware, but I'm curious on how you will deal with me. Erasure would be appropriate, but a bit harsh. I'm just happy you didn't get my partner involved."

Joshua finally hit something of interest, a flicker in his soul, "Your partner?"

Weiss kept smiling, "You let her go, that was kind of you. But still what will you do with me?"

Speak softly but carry a big stick. Joshua spoke softly and carried not a stick but all the power of a city. Sticks were for playgrounds not Underground. "What I shall do with you is being decided. Cooperate and I promise you'll get better results."

Weiss couldn't disagree, "Cooperating has never been my strong suit, but I'll try my best. Tell me, what do your friends call you?" Joshua could see an extremely powerful imprint being used. It was an imprint strong enough to work on anyone, but Joshua wasn't anyone. The imprint could be resisted if Joshua so chose. It was an imprint that forced a human to confess whatever Weiss asked. The words 'tell me' were a verbal trigger. Weiss used it before. This wasn't something a normal human had access to. Someone gave him an imprint which was activated under the words 'tell me'. That severely limited who he was working for. There were a few things in the universe able of making an imprint like that. Even Hanekoma couldn't do it. Joshua could resist the imprint and he did. The only reason he resisted the imprint was to prove he could. Weiss seemed disappointed that the imprint didn't work. The Composer couldn't be forced to do anything. "Know that I choose to answer. You cannot force your will upon me. My friends call me Joshua. You tried to use an mental imprint on a Composer. You crossed the line."

Weiss cocked his head in confusion, "Crossed what line?"

Joshua smiled. This guy must have been a fellow jackass. Perhaps he could make use of Weiss. Joshua actually put the pieces together. He might have known what Weiss was. But then he was clever and could make sense of even the smallest amount of evidence. Joshua saw Weiss and his purpose. It was time to make use of him. "I have decided your sentence." Joshua wouldn't give him a sentence he wanted, "You are the play the game again, with a price. A price of my choice."

Weiss smiled and nodded his head, "Yes of course, and whatever would my price be? I doubt you can take anything of value."

Joshua began, "Your price is Nanami." He looked closely at the white haired boy's face. A surprise would give him something. Even if Joshua saw nothing, that itself could tell you something.

Weiss let loose a sigh. His face had no hint of fear or remorse. Ah, so he was a true psychopath. He had skill enough to suppress surprise. Joshua caught a trace of strain. Good he had something he could use. Yes, she'd do just fine. Weiss rolled his eyes, but that was just to hide his fear. "And here I was beginning to think you were going to leave someone innocent out of my mess."

Joshua wasn't finished, "Nanami will enter the next game as a player once again."

Weiss thought about that, it wasn't so bad. If he could just partner with her, he could guarantee victory once again. "I see so there's a chance she could be erased… that's my price…"

Joshua had Weiss where he wanted him. He had leverage now. Leverage was everything. "I'm still not finished, she will not be allowed to be partnered with you again. You may partner with anyone you wish, but you must first inform them of your condition. You must inform them that you are an illegal player. Nanami will need to get through this game on her own merit… and you… will need to be honest for once with somebody from the start. You're quite the con man. Taking advantage of her like that." Oh Weiss was getting worse at hiding his facial expressions. It was just a matter of time.

Joshua was clearly scheming and planned something malefic. For him to be toying with an innocent life was the world of a heartless bastard. The Composer was even going so far as to ensure that Weiss wouldn't find a willing partner. What was he planning? What was he up to? This couldn't be allowed, or at the very least be ethical. Weiss couldn't talk, he wasn't ethical either. As far as he knew, he understood what Joshua was doing. For the first time Weiss felt afraid, Nanami could die without his help. He intended to use her as leverage. He needed Weiss to do a job for him. "This is an unexpected move on your end. You said you would give Nanami her life back. She was killed by one of your reapers and now you're involving her further in this? I do believe you're breaking a rule or two. Why not simply erase me and get it done with? "

Joshua smiled knowing full well what he was doing. He knew more than Weiss. "Because I haven't put the whole puzzle together yet. I hate it when a story doesn't end properly. Too many unanswered questions to end it here. Don't worry about Nanami. I break no rules. I'm returning her life back to her. She'll yet live. In fact I've already returned her price and her life... but a living person can play the Reapers game and she will play again. I think I know what you are. Let the next game commence and see if I'm right. I look forward to a very entertaining game." Joshua didn't need to see anything else. He pointed his hand at Weiss and forced him into a deep sleep. Yes, he would do. Even if Neku wouldn't play ball, this boy would do.

XXXXXXXXXX

End Week 1

Author's notes: Yes yes, I know... another week. I'm not getting much feedback on this story, so I'm not sure if I should bother finishing it. The next thing I wanted to write was a secret report which summed up the chapters. It of course would be written by Hanekoma, but it would be summing up all the days at once. The next week is more involved with older characters, especially Sho Minamimoto. Which quite honestly is harder to write for because I feel as if I need to make a math reference in every sentence and don't know where to draw the line of abusing math quotes. At either rate, Weiss is an original character and I'm sorry for not using Neku more, but... There's going to be a point where Neku and friends join the game. They're going to need to help save Shibuya from the ultimate threat. Be it Reapers, angels, demons or Noise.

Question of the day: What do you think Joshua is up to?

Addressing some questions-

Joshua gave Nanami her price and life back, so it wasn't illegal. He gave back everything she was owed. She is in fact alive next chapter. But Joshua is going to force her to play the game again. He's even picked out a partner for her. I edited a little to explain a little better. I understand it was confusing. I'd tell you more, but it'd spoil it.

The angels are a complicated matter. There's rules that prevent them from intervening and just annihilating the Noise. Joshua needs to work with them to purge the Noise from the city. They have a method to purify the city, but it comes at great risk. What's worse is the angels aren't in agreement on what they should do.

Yes, Joe Hawkeye was just a side character. He is dead and going to stay dead. You'll find that a lot of minor villains can be made up on the spot. I do a lot of this later. You'll see.

Thank you for reading. I'm going to edit up chapter 2 on another date. But instead of editing week 2 until it's nice and polished. I'm going to work on a new chapter. When I finish the new chapter I'll edit Week 2. Feel free to read it, but be warned it's not clean and pretty. I'll get to it on another date. Be sure to comment ^^ comments make 0er0 happy.


	8. Week Two, Day One: Why Exist?

[As promised I started editing Week 2. I will continue to edit these chapters over the next couple of weeks until they are in acceptable condition. This one is has seen massive improvement. Hopefully you find this updated version more enjoyable and I promise to move on to the next couple of days as quickly as possible. When I finish editing week 2. I will proceed to write the final chapter of the story. Thank you for reading so far and let me get to work.]

The World Ends with You Too

0er0

Week 2 Day 1: Why exist?

The girl awoke in the dark, despite it being daytime. "Where am I?" Nanami muttered as her eyes lazily opened to see two white shoes before her. Her blue eyes looked up to note smug grin that somehow served as a warning of confidence. Guys with smiles like those were the guys who played God. Little did she know he did a lot more than play.

Joshua asked her as he kneeled down, "Are you alright?"

Nanami shook her head and pushed herself up to a sit, "My head's not hurting, but it's hard to remember how I got here." Shouldn't she be alive? She felt alive. Well... not that there was a surefire way of knowing. This Joshua fellow was a good start. He didn't look like a Reaper and he was talking to her. Was she alive? She must be.

Joshua read her like a book or maybe more like a centerfold, "You were Weiss' partner, right?"

What? Weiss? Oh no, if he knew who Weiss was there was a distinct possibility she got out of one mess and into another. Nanami didn't know exactly what, but something suspicious was going on. "Where am I?..." She didn't like being alone and she didn't trust this guy. Sure he didn't look too dangerous, but her intuition said 'GET OUT'. Joshua stood where he was just watching her. Her little micro expressions feeding him more and more information. He was reading her psych and he was gauging her soul power. Joshua was an expert even without Composer power.

She was underground somewhere and she could hear the sound of flowing water. She must have been under a bridge, but she was still in Shibuya. There wasn't many places in Shibuya like this. So she had an idea where she was. Her gut said to leave, so she tried to leave. Nevermind being rude.

Girls, if you ever get a bad feeling about a guy. Try to leave. Be rude if you have to, but you've got a strong intuition for a reason. Everyone has a bad feeling every now and then, but it's when you consistently ignore it trouble brews. Not every guy you meet is trouble, but not every guy you meet isn't.

Nanami stood up and tried to take a few paces away from the apparently teen boy before her. With a shock she was stopped by a wall. "Sorry, should have warned you that you're trapped in here. I'm Yoshiya Kiryu, my friends call me Joshua."

The boy smiled and the smile wasn't threatening. It was one of those eye closed smiles. The way he spoke was as if he spoke to a child. It was condescending, but unlike Weiss... Joshua never bothered disguising the fact he thought you were stupid. "You're Joshua… are you the one Neku spoke of?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow. The first thing she said that interested him. "Oh? Neku talks about me? And here was beginning to think he never thought of me." Joshua chuckled a moment, "Well… Neku aside, I need you to understand your situation. You're alive, like me. As you can see your price has been fully returned to you. However... You're still a part of the reapers game. Being alive you won't be physically injured by Noise, but they can still damage your Soul. You can still be pulled into battle by Reapers or Noise. You can still be erased and you're still going to have to win. Just pretend you're an ordinary player in the Reaper's Game. You'll win again I'm sure. You're name is Nanami, right?" OK This guy was definitely a part of the Game. How else would he know this? Maybe he was a Reaper after all. Well... he didn't SEEM like a Reaper. But if it quacks like a duck.

She ran.

Then she hit a barrier.

He was still smirking at her. Yeah, he definitely wasn't on her side. Joshua was it? She had to clear her head. What did she remember about Joshua? She knew he was a friend of Neku. He annoyed Neku, but they were still friends. Joshua... Like the Composer? Wait! Joshua was the Composer! Oh crap! If she hadn't played the game earlier she couldn't have known. But she heard enough from working near Neku to hear about Joshua being Composer. It wasn't like Neku and Shiki had to keep it a secret. You could talk about it in public and no one would believe that sort of bull.

Nanami blinked a moment and tried to watch herself, "Why am I in the game? Is this about Weiss?"

Joshua had to applaud the girl for noting that. Maybe Weiss wasn't the brains of the operation... Nah, he was. Nanami just proved she wasn't completely stupid though. "Well you see, Nanami. Weiss had to pay a price. He didn't value himself, this city or anything really. So I took something he cared about."

Nanami caught on, "He cared about me? So what? You need me to force him to do something?"

Joshua faked being impressed, "Oh, such a smart girl, very perceptive. Well… I can hardly say it's my style to force people to do anything. I'm just going to see what he does. You're just a little incentive, that's all. I might need Weiss. Well don't worry about him. Think about yourself for a moment. As per my condition you're playing again. You need a partner, right? Allow me to volunteer myself."

Nanami was stunned for a moment, "You're the Composer aren't you? You own this game. Why are you forcing me to partner with you? Is it so you can threaten to kill me?... What the hell do you need Weiss for?! You're way more powerful than him if you're really the Composer!"

Joshua was genuinely impressed this time, not too much. But he didn't have to explain much. His eyes narrowed with a mix of irritation and smug. "Clever girl. Well I don't mind telling you that you're not going anywhere. That barrier behind you is something else. It's difficult to break. Including myself, there's only three beings in Shibuya who could break it. You need to make a pact with someone before the day is over or you'll be erased." A smile started creeping across his face. His eyes suggesting complete victory, "Neither of us want that, now do we?"

This bastard was forcing her to make a pact with him. The idea scared her. This guy was a psycho. He'd kill her, he really would. He was the type who could kill with a smile. Although Joshua was fairly comfortable around Neku and the gang. It was hard to remember that Joshua killed sometimes. It was fact that even though Shibuya may have changed... he hadn't. If she did nothing he'd really let her die down there. This was the Composer. This was Joshua.

Nanami took a shot at what he was planning, "No, you're using me..." She didn't like being used.

Joshua gave a light clap as if to mock her, "A keen observer of the obvious. I'll make things simple. You forge a pact with me, or you'll be erased. I won't force you and don't think I couldn't. I'd just rather see what choice you will make. Think of it, if you're my partner then I'd be at risk too. I'd be inclined to protect my partner. With my power there's no way you wouldn't win the game. I'll help you win, Nanami. Promise."

That offer sounded a little more enticing. It's true that he could force a pact upon her. So why didn't he? Did her choice even matter? Did she really have a choice? No... He was still forcing her. This wasn't a choice. He made that barrier and he brought her into this game again. The villain was Joshua. He wasn't there to help her.

Joshua didn't wait for a response. He knew she might refuse so he changed his tactics again. "Now before you say you'll never do such a thing. If you agree. I'll tell you the truth about Weiss. He's not what you think. He's the one who was using you. He knew if he made a pact with you that you would be punished. He knew that. If you want to confront him then just take my hand. I'll take you straight to him. I'll keep you safe for the week, just take my hand and say yes. I'll shed some light on this mystery and offer you my protection."

He offered his hand. Nanami knew it'd be stupid. But it was tempting. I mean, she'd be erased if she didn't. It was also true she was also a little curious about Weiss. Use her? He knew? It seemed possible. He knew all the other game rules... he could have been lying to her. Weiss might have been the one using her. Weiss could have played her.

Nanami sighed."That'd be the same as me betraying a friend." She made an excuse but she didn't say no. Joshua could handle excuses. Nanami was going to run out of excuses. Have you ever dealt with a telemarketer? They're trained to deal with excuses and to calm you down when you say 'no'. That's what they do in sales: Build rapport, crush excuses and get you to agree quickly. If you have time to think about it then you might say no. Pressuring someone to agreeing quickly is used in all forms of sales. Joshua could give salesmen lessons. He was just making this up as he went too.

Joshua retorted, "Betrayed? No, you're not betraying a friend. You're not betraying anybody. By taking my hand you have a chance to make things right. Take my hand, get your answers and get your life back. Betraying your friends would be letting yourself die."

Nanami still wasn't sure, "But..."

Joshua had her on the ropes. "I'm the Composer. You were an illegal player. I could have erased you for breaking the rules. I decided that wouldn't be fair. I decided to give you a second chance. This is it. Don't make me regret my decision."

Nanami paused. He was seeming less and less like a bad guy.

"Neku and Shiki miss you. Beat and Rhyme would love to see you again. Weiss and you worked really hard to bring you back to life. Don't betray them and yourself. Don't let your pride keep you from saving a lot of heartache. You don't need to be erased. Please let me help you."

Annnnndddd... sale.

He had her. It was all over her face. Her hands shivered and her legs walked towards him. He got her. She looked up at his face and nervously back at the floor. She didn't have any options. Joshua wanted her to choose to go with him. She got closer and looked him in the eyes. Joshua made her see her family. It made easier for her to reach forward. He was right wasn't he?

The girl reached out and kept one hand behind her back. She looked at her hand a moment and shut both eyes. "No, I'm not going to be a part of your game. You locked me in here and you're not here to help me."

Joshua felt stunned. This girl was just like Neku. Stubborn as hell and about to get herself killed. Joshua made a similar offer to Neku long ago. Neku chose to get shot rather than shoot a friend. He didn't yield and apparently neither did she.

Joshua tried to recover, "You realize..."

Nanami pulled out her notebook and started trying to hit him. She was using her psych against him now. Pitiful as it was, she was attempting to beat him. Josh just let himself get hit and put his hands in his pocket as she tried repeatedly to deal damage. It was futile. She posed no more threat to him than a kitten. Nanami shouted, "It's my choice! Just because you trap me in here doesn't mean you control me. I'm not some animal you can tame and neither is anyone else. I'm a human being! If I'm erased it'll be because you're nothing more than a murderer."

Joshua frowned, "Perhaps asking was a bit much… but if I can't be a gentlemen then I'll play the part of the devil." Joshua blocked her notebook casually with a backhand. Then his eyes started glowing white. He didn't even need to tap into his Composer power to beat her. Even when he was human, he fought opponents much tougher than her. But he was making a point. She didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. He just used his raw power to blow her back. He made sure it'd hurt, but it definitely wouldn't kill her.

"I don't need your permission, Nanami. Did you think that just because I showed a little mercy that I was your equal? Get up."

She got up. Huffing and puffing. It didn't matter if she agreed. The end result was the same. All she did was piss off a Composer. She was scared, but she didn't show it. She gripped that notebook of hers and looked for a way to escape.

That's when Joshua sensed something behind the barrier and jumped back.

The barrier behind her shattered and Joshua sidestepped what appeared to be a shard of the barrier. Joshua looked through the explosion as if it wasn't there, he could see past the smoke, "What are you doing?"

Nanami turned her head, but in time for a pact to go off. "Just doing what I gotta do, chief." It was Hanekoma. He just made a pact with Nanami. Blue lights and everything. Hanekoma joined the game.

Joshua stood tall with eyes focused on the new visitor, "I'll repeat. What are you doing?" Apparently his 'underling' was double crossing him.

Hanekoma scratched the back of his head and gave the floor his attention, "Look… there's been two times I tried to stop you. Both involve you doing something wrong. I may be your Producer and your friend, but this is wrong. This girl is a human… same as you. I won't let you do this. You may be Composer, but I'll get in your way every time you cross the line." Hanekoma stepped between him and Nanami. "Every time."

Joshua seemed to draw his full Composer power then. It was intimidating. He could smite even Hanekoma in no time. "Get out of my way, Hanekoma. I don't want to turn against a friend, but I will if I have to."

Hanekoma just downright smiled at him, "No you won't. If you erase her, you erase me. There's more than just friendship that will keep you from doing that."

A pact went off. Nanami could feel tremendous power. The Creativity and Imagination were inhuman. No really, this wasn't a human. This was a being pretending to be human. The guy at the coffee shop? This guy was from the coffee shop? What was he doing there?

Nanami didn't get it. In fact she was pretty clueless to what was going on. Apparently Hanekoma was saving her butt. But he couldn't fight the Composer. He should just run and save himself. As far as she knew nothing could beat the Composer. This guy she could feel was tough, but surely he couldn't take Joshua. "Hanekoma... just run. I'm not worth this."

Joshua lowered his power. But his face was downright sinister, "I could erase you both."

Hanekoma reminded him of the situation, "You can't. I may have lost a lot of my power, but I'm still an angel. If you erase her then you'll erase me. If you erase me... I think you won't need to wait for your timer to run out. They'll kill you. You won't use your power on either one of us. Break one more rule and you're dead. That was the deal wasn't it?"

Joshua was on parole. One rule break and he was toast. Killing an angel for any reason was against the rules. Normally he could get away with it. But not with that timer on his hand. They probably wouldn't even let him explain the situation. Composer or not, the angels were scary when they wanted to be.

Joshua looked at the timer on his hand then back at Hanekoma. He was well within his rights to erase an illegal player. Even a living one who beat the game. But now that Hanekoma was in the mix that was different. If he erased Nanami now he'd erase Hanekoma too. Erasing an Ex-Producer definitely NOT fine. The angels were itching for an excuse to kill Joshua. That'd be all they needed. Composer may have been God of Shibuya, but even he couldn't cross the angels. Hanekoma was Ex-Producer and erasing him was an offense worthy of erasure. Not that he'd want to. Hanekoma was a good friend of his. Everyone knew that. Joshua couldn't raise his hand against Hanekoma no matter how messed up he got.

Joshua kept his cool through this, "Oh? I suppose it was." Joshua already came up with a scheme. He started to stall them. Nanami crossed him and now Hanekoma crossed him. There was no way in hell he'd just let them walk way from this. "You're right... I can't touch you." Joshua didn't sound beaten. "I can't do a thing." The smug started returning.

Nanami was getting annoyed, "Then let us leave already."

Hanekoma started looking around. He knew something was up. Joshua wouldn't let it go that easy.

"Oh there's a hole in the barrier. Nothing's stopping you from leaving. So why are you worried? Try to keep her safe, if you can."

Hanekoma couldn't figure it out. So he started working on the barrier behind him. As a Producer he was great at cracking through barriers. Even impossible ones. He just needed time to make a synthetic key.

Joshua originally intended to threaten Nanami in order to get a reaction out of Weiss. So Hanekoma could make a few guesses what he needed Weiss for.

Nanami looked left and right uncertain of why a guy from the coffee shop would know what was going on. Hell how did the guy from the coffee shop break through a Composers barrier? Hanekoma was different. She couldn't even sense his soul. Even normal people had some creativity and imagination that leaked out. Even standing right next to him she felt no trace of power. Which meant he was completely powerless or he was so powerful he could hide his soul energy from anyone. "Hanekoma? Why are you doing this?"

Hanekoma looked at her once, but spoke to Joshua. "I stand by what I believe. Maybe you should learn to do the same, chief."

Joshua chuckled, "That's odd, the last time I did you tried to stop me. I believed Shibuya should be destroyed. Now I believe that Weiss may very well have an answer to my problem." Hanekoma felt urgency to hurry up and bring down the whole barrier. He may have broke through it, but Joshua fixed the damned thing. With Joshua focusing on a barrier, it would take time for Hanekoma to break through it. Think of barriers in terms of computers. Hanekoma was a skilled hacker that could cheat his way through any barrier. Even a Composer couldn't stop him. But you could slow him down by constantly bringing up firewalls or changing passwords. Every barrier had a password. Hanekoma was a genius at hacking through barriers. Hanekoma told Nanami, "Sorry about this, but… I kinda made a pact with you without permission. Well rather I used an imprint to make you accept without your knowledge."

He didn't go into imprints either. Nanami knew a basic amount of them. But Angels had access to imprints that far surpassed any a human could make. An angel could make imprints that bordered on mind control.

Nanami was saved by the guy from the coffee shop? How did he make an auto pact? People could do that? Joshua could too, but he was Composer. Who the hell was Hanekoma? She could feel he was different, but she had no idea who she just pacted with: an ex-Produer and an angel.

Joshua rubbed his forehead as if he were stressed, "Now I'm in a bind… what to do… How am I ever going to handle this?" Hanekoma hurried to break the barrier. Joshua was crafty and cruel. They were in danger.

"You don't need Weiss. You don't need Neku… you have the power to stop this. Just give it time!" Hanekoma said this with certainty.

Joshua retorted with and the face of a god, "And I don't need you, either. My life is on the line… if I have to choose between my existence and friendship..."

It was time to leave, "Don't do this, kiddo." Hanekoma was just about done.

Joshua's eyes turned white and his smile made it clear his intentions, "I won't lay a hand on either of you."

Nanami had a feeling she couldn't relax either, "What is he doing?"

Well this wasn't good. "He's communicating with someone else right now…" Hanekoma told Nanami. "He's calling for backup."

Joshua explained the situation in a nutshell, "You made a pact. Even as a former angel you're as much a player as she is. You know very well that you are fair game. Not to me perhaps but the Reapers are well within their rights. As a player you are their prey. There will be no penalty to me if they were to erase you."

Hanekoma's eyes widened as he grabbed Nanami's hand and pulled hard, "Run!" The barrier fell just in time. Hooded Reapers started charging towards Hanekoma and they'd kill him. Hanekoma lost a huge portion of his power since the angels stripped him of his rank. Sure he wasn't human, but he definitely wasn't as strong as he used to be.

Joshua called for Reapers. Hanekoma wasn't all powerful, he couldn't face them all. Nanami had trouble keeping her arm attached with how quickly she was yanked, "He said he wasn't going to hurt us!"

Hanekoma ran as he spoke, "He's going to send reapers after us. He can't erase us, but they can. Dammit! I thought he would stop this madness but it seems he's still going to go after Weiss."

Nanami had to cry, "What's so important about Weiss?! Why does he matter to a Composer?!"

Hanekoma confessed, "Call it a hunch but… Weiss may have a way to save the city… Joshua will do whatever he has to in order to make him. I'll explain everything by the end of the week." He said with a pant.

Clearly he wasn't used to running by the sound of him, Nanami was no better. "The end of the week?"

Hanekoma kept running, "We gotta get out of this tunnel, we're right near the dead god's pad. If we go up against the officer class Reapers we're dead."

Nanami didn't understand that was the reaper's base of operation, but she didn't exactly need that explained. She could guess they were in a less than ideal location and she needed to run.

Hanekoma continued, "If we go to the city, they'll have to find us. I can hide our presence from them, but they can see us just fine. We find some place to lie low and get help."

Nanami tried her best to talk while running, "If even one finds us more will come. We can't hide forever, eventually they'll catch us."

Hanekoma smirked, "I can fight a lot of reapers, just not all of them. I'm an ex-Producer after all." Producer? What rank was that? Who was Hanekoma? If the name was any indication the Producer was the one who advertised for music. In terms of the music business they ranked up there with the Composer. Hell even higher in a lot of ways.

"So... you worked for Joshua?"

Hanekoma chuckled and turned a corner. They were losing the Reapers. But there was no sign of their officers. "Since before you were born."

Joshua stood silent in the dark tunnel. Nothing seemed to go as planned. It was time to improvise, "Find them… I leave the terms of their execution to you."

Sho Minamimoto stepped out of the darkness and smirked. With a single nod he took the cue to vanish. There was quiet, Joshua stood alone. Then he muttered to himself. "If I must play the part of the villain once again… I shall. I'm sorry old friend… but you crossed the line."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was going to be a strange week, every reaper could tell from day one. It's not like a game was ever normal, but there was at least consistency. Kotori overlooked the city with the current game master nearby, Koki Kariya. The man wore his game face, which was a mix of relaxed calm and intense examination, "Hmmm… I dare say that Okami's defeat has the reapers on edge."

Kotori nodded and could eye the player who did it, "Weiss… he's got the Composer's attention now."

Kariya chuckled as he knew full well what that meant, "That bodes ill for our former compadre. But… I suppose that's better for us. I would have liked him more if he were dead."

Kotori turned around to see Uzuki looking over something. Some scraps of paper littered her feet and she prospected ideas until she'd feel satisfied.

Kotori felt the need ask, "What is she doing?"

After he finished eying the number of players in the game he gave a defeated sigh, "Looking over my game plan."

Uzuki giggled as she saw every plan Kariya came up with. Even though they were half assed, he did pretty damn good. Plenty of puzzles, even the first day had a bit of a tricky wall. " With these plans my-" She had to correct herself from a Freudian slip, "Our! Our points will skyrocket. We'll be able to get plenty of players this way."

Kariya shrugged, how could he care about points? "You can handle the first day, right?" Uzuki gave a fake salute while standing on only the ball of her foot, "Yes siiirrr!" It was clear she was happy to have Kariya in charge.

Kotori looked at the players once again, "She sure is ambitious."

Kariya shook his head, "More than I'll ever be. You can bet they promoted me out of desperation."

Kotori turned her head away and added, "We don't like ambition. It's because you lack ambition that you're of no threat to the Conductor. You will never try to overthrow or betray him. It's that very lack of ambition that made you the perfect game master this week. Anyone else would try to make use of the exceptional players against other Reapers."

Kariya chuckled, "Well they couldn't give it to you. You're smarter than I am and I dare say you're dangerously ambitious. A combo that'll get you killed."

Kotori gave a half smile, "I suppose… I know if I were game master I'd take advantage of the missions I chose. However I doubt anyone has the strength to face the Conductor, even with players."

Kariya agreed and now sat in a unfolded lawn chair atop a building. With one finger he opened a soda and sipped, with his other hand he held a lollipop as you would a cigarette. "The Conductor is strong… that's why he's still doing this job. I suppose you'll lie and tell me you're content with your job? Thinking of becoming Conductor yourself? How long would it be before some underling overthrew you? I wouldn't last a week as Conductor… That's why I choose to stay low ranked… well wanted to anyway."

Kotori could see Uzuki nearby and was a little envious, "She's ambitious too isn't she?"

Kariya knew who she was talking about without looking. "Oh Uzuki… yeah she's the suicidal kind of ambitious. She wouldn't last long if she rose up the ladder."

Kotori smiled and read Kariya like a children's book, "You're protecting her… You stayed at her rank when she was a field reaper and then before she was considered for promotion you took Sho's offer. You did it to keep her from rising too fast and getting killed by monsters like me or Okami. You care for her a lot and I think you both know."

Kariya shrugged and was surprisingly chill about what Kotori said, "Yeah, that about sums it up. She's a hot head and ambitious. I'm relaxed and never ambitious… but… You know… I think I like being around her." He took a sip of soda and after a cough added one more thing, "Might also be that I think pink hair is cute."

Kotori smiled at the honesty, but both she and Kariya felt a presence behind them. It wasn't Uzuki. Kotori kicked one skate against the edge of the building top and rolled backwards. The orange haired lady reaper came to a complete stop when she was at the side of her visitor, Sho Minamimoto. She snapped to attention when she saw who it was.

Kariya didn't even bother snapping to attention he turned his chair with his foot to face the Conductor. The Conductor never visited for anything other than business and usually even when he was supposed to show up for business he wasn't there. If he was visiting something really important was going on. "The Composer has removed all variables between me and the target solution."

Kariya understood him perfectly due to years of experience, "Who's the target? A player?"

Sho elaborated, "Not a yoctogram or hectopascal… we're dealing with an opponent who's numbers surpass the combined strength of all game master reapers."

Kotori for some reason also understood him, "Who is it? And how do you want us to handle it?" This was interesting. Was there a player who made even Sho sweat? If so, who? If she could find out then she could make use of such a player. Or perhaps there was too much risk in that.

Sho rolled his eyes as if they should know, "FOIL! First deal with the problem on the surface, the players. Focus on the outer areas of the city. Bring them to the inner parts of the city and last we find and eliminate the target. He too is a player, bring them together."

Kariya thought about that, "Alright, that'll cause all the players to be in one place, but who are we after?"

Kotori asked, "Is it that kid who fought Okami?" It couldn't be, Weiss wasn't that strong. He could barely win against Okami. Sho was in a different tier of power.

Sho leaned against the edge of the building, "This is an equation I alone will solve and I alone can. Eliminate the yoctograms… I'll deal with the larger variable."

Kotori knew why he didn't say who it was. She'd use whoever made Sho Minamimoto sweat, she'd need to find out who could. The Composer is the only one who ever defeated him in raw power. Still she didn't like the idea of the confident Sho Minamimoto, the one person with an ego roughly the size of the moon, intense like this. "If needed, I reserve the right to modify your equations for the day. In order that the solution be to eliminate the bigger target."

Kotori might as well offer, "If you need any assistance, sir. We will not hesitate to support you in any way we can." She gave a quick bow.

Sho started to walk away, "Formality is garbage!" Within an instant the conductor moved so fast it's as if he appeared by Kariya and swiped the can Kariya had just finished drinking, "Crunch!" He said crushing the can with a clap of both hands. Then he tossed the can far off in the distance and smirked, "I'll add it to the heap."

With that the Conductor vanished with his impossible speed. Kariya was left in deep thought, "Whatcha thinkin?"

Kotori could only mutter, "We've got to find out who could possibly kill the Conductor… If he can be killed then we're doomed. I'm going to see how I can help him." Kotori did a backflip stylish backflip off the building. She was scheming again wasn't she?

Kariya smirked, "She totally has the hots for the Conductor… that or she's trying to kill him… You can never tell with women, can you?"

XXXXXXXXXX

It was as if waking from a refreshing nap. The sad thing was the boy had no anxiety. Strange for someone who might as well be facing a death sentence."Well… here I am." He kept that carefree smile of his on.

Weiss stretched and looked around the area, crowded and empty at the same time, "No players." That's the thing about being dead. You could be surrounded by people and still be completely alone. Weiss didn't mind.

Weiss went toward the Hachiko statue and thought for a moment on how exactly he'd manage to convince another player to join him. The Composer put a condition that he'd have to tell whoever he partnered with that he was an illegal player and by association they too would be considered rulebreakers. It was a problem, no doubt of that. Weiss didn't have so much as an educated guess as to how he'd actually find a partner who'd be stupid enough to take that deal. No one was going to risk their existence with something like that.

"Well without a partner I'd be erased… too bad." He'd have to avoid all noise battles and leave missions to other players. It was possible, but he couldn't really think of a way he'd make it through. The Composer had a bone to pick and Weiss had to fathom a guess. "So has he figured out who I am? Did Hanekoma tell him? No… hmmm… is he really that perceptive or just paranoid?" You could never quite tell with him. Even Weiss hadn't fully figured out who he was for sure. But Joshua must have been making the same guesses. Not good.

What Joshua thought didn't matter, what did matter was how he was going to survive the day. He dare not draw attention to the reapers nor call out for other players. Without a pact he couldn't use psyches. He needed a lucky break and sure enough he found one, "You?" It was Thanatos.

Thanatos always wore blue and more often than not kept his hands in his pockets. The only reason he took them out was to fight and he rarely did even that. "You didn't get brought back to life, why?"

He started off with one of the worst opening lines. "I'm an illegal player, that about sums it up. Anyone else who partners with me is also an illegal player. I have to win the game again, to come back to life." Weiss looked around to catch a glimpse of reapers scrambling around. Apparently something had them in a panic. What had them panicked?

"Why are you fighting to live? Why did you go through the game? If you were an illegal player… surely you realized that it was pointless to complete the game." He eyed Weiss up and down.

Weiss laughed at that, "Oh I wanted to see what would happen. What about you? Are you an illegal player?"

Thanatos looked off in the distance and didn't answer the question, "Reapers are coming. If you want to make a pact with me I won't help you with missions or Noise. They aren't really my problem."

Weiss found that more than a little odd, "So… you aren't afraid of being erased, not only that… it's not even an incentive for you? You must be difficult to erase."

Thanatos chuckled, "You catch on quick, do you still want to make a pact? I really won't lift a finger to help you."

Weiss really didn't have a choice, no other player in their right mind would join him. Thanatos was definitely his best bet, although he certainly wasn't an ideal choice. At a glance one could immediately tell that Thanatos had several issues and at a second glance you could tell the biggest of the said issues was he had no will to make even the slightest effort to help with missions. Weiss by this logic would have to fight alone, but at the very least he could use psyches. That was good enough. Also Thanatos would surely defend himself if only to avoid pain. As long as Thanatos didn't become a straight burden, "I accept."

Flashes of light greeted them both and neither of them even seemed phased by the process. They'd both had this happen before. Thanatos looked downright bored, "Pact complete."

Weiss did want to ask one thing, "If you don't mind me asking. What is your price for playing?"

Thanatos ignored him, "The mission is to reach 104 it always is, odds are they got at least one wall."

Weiss smirked, "Last time I had to explain the rules to someone else. Funny how life works." Weiss ran toward 104 before he noticed his partner felt like walking. The first drawback of the day, "I see you prefer to walk." Thanatos might have been following him, but he wasn't even going to run to where they needed to go. This might be a problem.

XXX

Nanami huffed and puffed. She had trouble keeping up with this guy. Hanekoma was the guy from the coffee shop she met. She had made a pact with Weiss before. But this guy's power was far beyond what she was used to. It was creativity and Imagination beyond human. She could feel his Soul, but she couldn't comprehend it. Normal pacts between people you could feel one another. Nanami could feel some things about Hanekoma, but there were parts of him that were simply incomprehensible. Everyone had parts of their soul that couldn't be felt by another person, but Hanekoma was near incompatible.

Weiss always felt like he had a wall up in his pact. Like, you could feel what he was feeling, but just barely. Over time that wall got weaker and weaker. Eventually they got a better sync rate and the wall went away. This was different. She had a near perfect sync rate with this guy, but she still couldn't read him.

Hanekoma stopped when he saw a barrier ahead. A red hooded support reaper waited. "Kill three Noise to confirm your pact."

Nanami guessed they had no choice, but Hanekoma held a hand to keep her from scanning. Hanekoma held in his hand a blank pin.

"Think of barriers doors that require a password or a key. The more work they put into the door, the harder it will be to break. But every door can be opened without the need for force. We just need to make a key of our own."

Nanami finally had time to ask questions, "Make a key? I didn't know players could do that."

Hanekoma shrugged then stuck the blank pin into the wall. "Normally players can't. But I've a little experience in making pins. Making a simple keypin is no problem."

Nanami watched him work. The support reaper wondered if he should be doing something. He didn't have long to wonder what he should do. Hanekoma made a key pin in seconds. Hanekoma tried to explain, "Think of hacking a password. It's no different here. If you can sync yourself to a barrier you can actually open or even modify a barrier. The best made barriers are difficult to open. The reason players normally can't open barriers this way is you'd need an extremely flexible Soul to be able to sync yourself to a barrier."

Nanami frowned, "It sounds like you're a man of many talents. So you can make pins. You can open barriers and you're somehow related to the Composer."

Hanekoma gave a quick laugh and his head shook, "Well you could put it that way, sure. It was an old job of mine to assist the Composer however I could. I had to dabble in a bit of everything. I can create, modify and sync pins, barriers, imprints and even Noise."

Nanami almost felt bad, "I didn't know one person could do all those things. I can't do any of that stuff..."

Hanekoma didn't make any big deal of it, "Well, most people can't. The only reason I could is because my job demanded it.

Nanami wondered, "What was your old job?"

Hanekoma motioned over to 104, "I'm a former Producer. An aid of sorts to the Composer."

If the name was any indication of what he did. Producers went out to look for talent and they advertised on behalf of the Composer. Hell in the real world, Producers usually called the shots. But this wasn't an exact real-world comparison. In the Underground the Composer was true creator of the game. If you compared the game to a song, things made more sense. A Conductor made sure everyone was playing the song (or game) right. A Producer advertised the game/ song. The players were the ones playing the game/ song. It started to make sense to her. Well at least she hoped it did.

Nanami had a more important question to ask the man from the coffee shop. She got that not everything was what it seemed and she understood she didn't have a lot of time to ask questions. But this last one was important, "Why did you save me?"

Hanekoma just smiled. "I just did what I thought was right. That's all."

The support Reaper kept his mouth shut and made all the mental notes he could. He needed to report this. This was definitely the guy the Conductor was looking for.

XXX

When they made it to the Shibuya square it seemed downright lucky that the barrier was gone. Thanatos and Weiss each gave a confused look at the support reaper who just let them run by. "Someone opened it already?" Thanatos said now actually running. He was going to keep walking until Weiss offered to buy him food if he actually ran. Apparently it was true to say a man would always run for a meal. It may also be that he was curious who managed to get by the barrier before they did. A lot of interesting things started happening recently. Normally games were all the same, but ever since Weiss showed up. Things started changing.

When they got there more and more players started making it. Weiss didn't spot Hanekoma or Nanami at the moment. But what they did spot was a happy pink haired reaper.

If Uzuki was happy that usually meant trouble for players. "Hello players.~ I'm the assistant Game Master this week. And as expected you're all showing exceptional promise. I put a lot of work into this mission, please enjoy it." She giggled and pulled out her phone, "Sent~" She had to sing a little with that last word.

___**Find and erase the Noise in 104. Scan carefully. –**_**_The Reapers_**

XXXXXX

"I'm seriously trying to get your help, Neku. Now work with me." Shiki was in the middle of planning a very important day to her.

"We could have a Mr. Mew ice sculpture." That was a good idea right?

Shiki rolled her eyes at that comment, "Neku… take this seriously."

What's sad is Neku was being serious. He didn't have the faintest idea how to plan a wedding. What was even more baffling was that Shiki actually thought he'd be of any help. He knew how weddings worked to some degree. But men didn't exactly pay any thought to the wedding itself. The wedding plan should NEVER involve the guy. If it did it often involved things that should belong in a bachelor party.

Speaking of which, "Oh yeah do you want to come to the bachelor party?" Neku asked his wife.

Shiki blinked, "Isn't that supposed to be men only?"

Neku knew that, "Yeah, but… I want someone to watch my back in case I get thrown on a bus to another city as a prank."

Shiki had wide eyes, "That happens?!"

Neku nodded, "Joshua would do it. Beat asked if there'd be a stripper. Wondering if I should bring you so nothing too crazy happens."

Shiki decided to change the subject, "Now comes what music to play… I don't know… I mean we should have something classy at least until people start dancing…" Shiki sounded tired. The girl needed some real help, but all she had to work with was Neku. Neku wasn't a bad guy and all, but honestly he wasn't really helping. Shiki had a hard balance to hit. She actually did want to make her wedding interesting. But her parents wanted a hardcore traditional wedding. Which admittedly she didn't want either. But they were starting with that theme and seeing what they could come up with.

Neku scratched his head, "Can we get a live DJ?"

Shiki shut both eyes and tried again, "Umm… I'm not sure that'd be appropriate." It might be cool. But they needed a live band.

Neku had to retort this one, "Aww! But a DJ knows how to make people dance! Hell! I'll do it!"

Shiki thought about that, "Well… the thing is… my parents made me promise to get a traditional wedding." She did promise too. She was trying to keep it. But honestly they were missing out on a lot of fun ideas. The Mr. Mew ice sculpture would have been perfect. I mean if it were just her and Neku she were trying to please. But it wasn't just her she wanted to make happy. Her whole family was a bit shocked with Neku and this wedding was a good chance to make them be nice.

Neku also pointed out, "Doesn't our dad hate me?"

Shiki gave a defeated sigh, "Well… I can't actually deny that." That was an understatement of course.

Neku had to shrug, "What gave you the hint? The 'stay away from my daughter' or the fact he punched me in the head?" Let's be fair, Neku started dating her REALLY early. Any dad would have been somewhat protective. Still that was a really bad start.

Shiki's eyes turned guiltily toward the left.

Neku scratched his head, "Can I like… pay someone to help you… you know someone who actually knows something about weddings. I don't really want you all stressed out."

Shiki thought about it, "Well… actually Rhyme offered to help, but I wanted you to see what I had so far."

Neku got up, "It looks good." He needed something to drink.

Shiki frowned, "You didn't even look at it."

Busted. Neku had to do something, something like he'd seen in those romantic movies he'd been dragged into. He grabbed her hand pulled her to her feet, stroked her hair away from her eyes and said, "It'll be perfect." After that he gave her a kiss. On a romantic scale he'd rate himself about an 8.7. Not too bad.

To interrupt this the phone rang and Neku didn't answer immediately. When he was finished being kissy kissy with his wife he finally picked up.

It took a lot of planning to get a wedding working, but all he had to do is wait until it was over. He'd take care of Shiki better whenever the formal crap was out of the way. Weddings were naturally confusing and let's be real ladies. While it may be a very special day, you don't want to turn into bridezilla. You can't please everybody. The financial stuff wasn't the problem, but it was really Shiki was trying too hard to please her parents. Neku just wanted her to be happy, he didn't care about everyone else. Maybe she should try to make herself happy too. Neku made her happy. He wasn't perfect, but he was all hers.

"Hello, dead kid speaking." Neku said knowing Hanekoma had a special ringtone. Neku had a smirk off to start then as he listened to the phone his face turned more to a calculating expression. Whatever he was listening to was trouble. His expression went serious. He hung up. "Shiki, Mr. H is in the Reaper's Game and so is Nanami."

They both knew Nanami, she worked with them. She didn't know them as well as say Mr. H, but she was a nice girl. They didn't want her erased and they definitely didn't want Mr. H erased."

Shiki probably could have started asking questions, but she was a smart girl. Time was a factor and Neku could explain in more detail as she got ready.

Neku checked his pockets for pins and Shiki walked over to grab her original Mr. Mew doll. Neku whipped out his phone and sent Beat a text.

"Going to try to meet Hanekoma at Darklit Raman. He's got Nanami and they probably need our help."

Shiki wanted to know more of course. But considering the tiny amount of time on the phone, Neku probably didn't know the story. If they were going to find out what was up they'd need to go ask Mr. H directly. "Let's go."

XXXXXXX

This was his usual gig, stealing crap. The robber apparently was having trouble with the door. "Where the factor is the lock?" The Conductor wasn't one to waste time. He had to look for some sort of a clue to find his target. Where better to look than his coffee shop. The door was unlocked but it seemed he preferred to kick the door down and in broad daylight. Several people saw him each running off in different directions to either alert authorities or hide. It was a little known fact that Sho Minamimoto was wanted every police force that had any relation to Shibuya.

It might have something to do with him leaving large junk heaps in the middle of traffic or even that he stole stuff on a regular basis. Every time they gave chase to him he'd vanish. The man seemed untouchable, but the truth was they need only look in the Underground.

The first order of business was to find anything that Hanekoma was working on recently, which to Sho was his food on display. The man filled his pockets with bagels and cupcakes before moving on to search the rest of the area. Sho found what he was looking for, reports. The reports seemed like chicken scratch to most, but Sho could not only read the words, he could see each letter in terms of binary. After obtaining the information he was after he ripped the pages and moved on to the back of the shop, but first he indulged in some coffee.

Sho didn't like cups or cans, he preferred to drink coffee straight from the coffee pot. After he finished the coffee pot he left a random piece of junk in its place, "Call it a trade." He left a random shoe in place of the coffee pot.

He moved down to the back and quickly became dazzled by the noise symbols. The amount of research must have been months or even years. Sho looked one after another noting imperfections of each. "This guy… he's… zetta impressive…" The calculations he was doing even made Sho raise an eyebrow. Apparently Hanekoma was working on something big. Doing some trial and error calculations. It was something big enough even Sho might have trouble doing.

To Sho he'd have to work to figure it out completely. "This symbol… an inverse matrix?" He grabbed another piece of and studied it some more. Eyes bounced from the corners of the pages to the center. "So… ole Hanekoma can actually handle this overwhelming anomaly…" He of course unconsciously said SOH-CAH-TOA which would have been a math term that would have slipped by most. He got more than what he came for, he found a way to finish his object and perhaps even make use of that noise seal in the sky.

The Conductor pulled out his phone and tapped a few buttons, "That's right… got it… I'll meet you at the square root of 3." After a click he stuffed his phone and the piece of paper in his jacket. He turned to see Rhyme standing right behind him.

Rhyme wasn't an intimidating girl, but her Soul power was worth noting. Fighting her could lead to trouble. She went into the store after happening to notice the door was broken down. She didn't recognize him personally, she never actually met Sho Minamimoto. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Sho waited a moment and turned to see her. Definitely a former player and a strong one at that. "Sho Minamimoto, you're a former yoctogram."

Yoctogram was another word for player in his dictionary. Player could also mean hectopascal.

"You?... What are you doing here then?" She recognized that name. She knew who he was, but what was he doing here? Why was he raiding Hanekoma's stuff?

Sho had to point out, "You asked me that in first question. I chose not to answer, a negative radian need not know. Now… I'm going to escape from here before any other unforeseen variables appear."

Rhyme pulled a stun gun out of her purse, "You're still in the physical world right now. But should you phase into the Underground I can still follow you." Rhyme was kinda scared, but she was trying to be brave. She probably couldn't beat him in a straight fight, but if it came to that, she'd be able to hold her own long enough for some of her friends to get there. Which Sho was tough and all, but he wouldn't win if Neku and Shiki showed up too.

Sho had to run for it. He moved at a speed which he would describe at 300,000 kilometers per second (a mild exaggeration). He told her, "Zetta slow."

He jumped out the window and darted off leaving Rhyme alone in the shop. The girl immediately made a call and tried to follow him, "I saw Sho! He said something about the square root of three and he knew I was a player. Want me to tail him?"

The voice on the other end was Neku, "No need. He's going to the road between Molco and Cadoi." Rhyme had trouble figuring out how he translated that, "He means the Reaper routes? How'd you know that's what he meant?"

Neku confessed, "When Joshua and I were in the game, we had to figure out what he meant by it. It's referring to the route between Molco and Cadoi. I'll head there now."

Rhyme didn't ask any more she hung up the phone and dusted herself off. One would think that the authorities would suspect Rhyme of something when they entered the building on that exact moment.

However they needn't even have her say a word. It was Sho, yes! Sho Minamimoto! That need be all the police need hear. Apparently Sho was so popular with the authorities as a complete terror he had his own checkbox with the Shibuya police force. Need to report a Sho related crime? Just grab the gray form. It has all the crimes Sho regularly completes. From junkpiles in traffic all the way to making strange announcements on a megaphone. Rhyme was handed one and she promptly filled it out before giving chase to the lunatic known as Sho Minamimoto.

XXXXXX

"So all we have to do… is erase the noise in this area?" Weiss looked at the phone under the assumption that was a safe guess.

Thanatos had to correct him, "Actually… just you."

Weiss nodded and happily said, "Right, I had almost forgotten your end of the deal. Although after this mission I'd like to hear why you can't win the game."

It wasn't the time for that just yet. He needed to learn the finer details of why Thanatos soon and all. But now there was the mission and the terms were pretty simple. Weiss scanned the area several times, all the other players were in combat with noise. This was a good and bad thing, some couldn't erase them. However this would speed up the process of noise being erased. The only thing necessary was find the hidden noise in the area. "Can I trust you to just stay nearby? Or is that too much to ask?"

Thanatos pointed out, "I'll go as far as watching what you're doing."

Weiss took that as generous, "That's kind of you. In return I think I'll help you later… with your problem."

Thanatos called his bluff, "You can't help with that."

Weiss didn't think so, "There's no way you'd be kept here unless there were some reason or purpose for you staying in the Underground."

Thanatos seemed to think Weiss was taunting him or mocking him, "There's no way to get out of here! I tried winning several times! It doesn't matter if I win or lose! It doesn't matter what I do anymore."

Weiss thought he might have to handle this later, "I'll explain how you can get out after the mission. There's more than one way to leave this game. We just need to find your way out."

Weiss was scanning this entire time. "Let's go."

The white haired player ran off, those gray shades surprisingly made it through the week. Weiss had to get to work. Erasing Noise shouldn't be a problem.

Thanatos frowned, "More than one way…" Thanatos didn't see what Weiss was talking about.

"The mission wanted us to erase the hidden noise… Not the just obvious ones. The Game Master placed some noise in objects. This one is inside the box." Weiss was holding a simple paper box with a noise seal on it. The Game Master must have planted more around.

Thanatos pointed out, "This isn't an easy mission."

Weiss pointed out, "Actually it is… it's just the players outside took it as erase every noise. If they try to erase every noise… they'll die. Or they will eventually. So I suppose it's our duty to help them.

Thanatos had his own feelings on that, "Bullshit… they are helping us. They're being as helpful as useless people can be."

Weiss laughed at that, "Aren't they? But it would make sense to keep some of them alive. After all… the more players there are the less we're targeted."

Thanatos was about to point out, "No just you-"

Weiss had to interrupt that, "Even you are still going to be targeted. You may not want to fight, but you sure as hell can. The Reapers will attack you and me all the same… If you let them hit you… it'll hurt."

Thanatos didn't seem to care. "I'm used to it."

Weiss didn't take that, "That's a lie. You try to avoid every attack you can because the pain is still real. That's why you won't let other reapers hit you. And you erase them if they try. I've heard you've erased Reapers before."

Thanatos pointed at the box and wanted to cut the conversation short, "Open it and finish the mission, you said you'd talk about a way out of this game."

Weiss had his attention and gave a victorious smile. It was only a matter of time before Thanatos became a useful partner. He was stronger than Nanami, but a lot higher maintenance. Honestly his chances were higher with Nanami, but if he could somehow get this guy working with him then it'd work

Down below the players were being erased by noise, they had no idea how this mission worked. Everyone was in disarray. They were told to erase the Noise in 104. Erasing them all seemed an impossible task. The smart ones stopped, but the foolish kept going.

Rhyme arrived in the center of it and was able to hear it all. "This is where the mission is, right?"

Next to her stood her older brother, "Yeah… Neku said the mission was here right?"

Rhyme looked around and pulled out her player pin, "Should we help the players? That would help Sanae."

Beat asked, "Who's dis Sanae?"

Rhyme worded it the way he understood, "Umm…. Mr. H?"

Beat got it, "Oh him! Yeah, let's help em out. He's always helpin us out. Let's fight these noise down here so the players don't die, yo."

Rhyme had to protest, "Shouldn't we solve the puzzle? There's some hidden noise in the area."

Beat was pretty firm, "I ain't good at that. Never was, I'm good at fighting, so that's what I'm gonna do."

Rhyme sighed and pulled out her player pin, "Well… I suppose we can help out here for the moment. But we really need to find the hidden Noise so the mission ends."

She and her brother found a bench to sit on. More or less your body needed to be somewhere you couldn't fall over and hurt yourself if your mind and soul got disoriented.

Neku was actually good enough to hit the Underground with psyches before any noise hit him. Although if noise did hit him, his spirit could get knocked out of his body and leave it tumbling to a fall.

Beat and Rhyme made it into the chaos. Luckily a good number of players were still alive just tired because noise would keep coming. Even if they didn't pull them, their partner or neighbor might and that was enough. Noise just kept coming. If the players didn't pull them, then Reapers would sick Noise on them.

Rhyme tried to explain to the players, "These aren't the right noise! You're supposed to erase the hidden ones! Try to keep your strength up to face reapers."

Beat looked around to see that very few actually bothered to take her advice.. He tried another strategy, "HEY THIS LADY IS TALKIN TO YA!"

Still no one paid attention. Rhyme let loose a sigh and wondered if there was an easier way to get their attention. Beat had an idea and by no means was it a good idea.

He rushed into the chaos hacking at noise and killing every single one he could see. Rhyme's psych was actually a little bell charm she kept around her neck. In combat she'd hold it in her hand. Rhyme pulled out her bell and it floated nearby her hand. She launched a few attacks each one made a ringing sound when it hit a noise.

Rhyme's psyche could send out golden rings of energy, although they didn't make a sound until a noise got hit. When it did hit it could bounce off Noise to hit other Noise. If it hit objects it could make them vibrate and then fire a sort of sonic wave attack at enemies.

She could make as many of those golden sound rings as she wanted. The more she made the more they bounced off things. The rings could even bounce off one another. Eventually the Noise would be overwhelmed just by the sheer number of golden rings.

Beat took the opportunity to hack through them or bash them in. "LISTEN DA HELL UP!" Beat hit a large Noise with force impressive enough to make it explode. He was strong. That strength seemed to get the Player's attention.

Rhyme called out, "Find the hidden noise! They're not going to be the ones floating around. They're gonna be hidden under or behind something. Maybe even within an object. Stop fighting and look!"

Uzuki wasn't going to have this, "No! Not you guys again! Stop ruining my life! You've done enough to aggravate me!"

Rhyme went on, "Ignore the Reapers and stay defensive. They can't attack you themselves but they can use the Noise in the area! Go!"

Uzuki was taunting players to fight Noise this entire time. Telling them they were almost there or just a few more Noise and the mission would be over. It wasn't against the rules to lie to players. It's against the rules to lie on mission mail and everything else you say is fine. The players were being suckers up until this point. They checked the mission again. While it did say 'erase the Noise'. It left out which ones. The implication would normally mean erase them all. But that wasn't it, was it? There were special Noise they were after.

Uzuki looked around in panic, "What no! We should have got more than that! Stop it! You're not supposed to be in this game!" The players were looking now and they were finding them. Beat and Rhyme were turning this around. They could have erased a ton more players without their intervention.

Weiss and Thanatos hopped out of a building and said, "Found all the ones you left on the roof. Ah, it seems the other players are helping now." He had one of those carefree smiles on. Thanatos remained behind him watching.

Weiss was in a cheery mood.

Uzuki paused and blinked a moment, "You again? But how come you're playing this game again... And why isn't Okami dead! I thought you were going to kill him!"

Rhyme didn't recognize this new guy. He stood out even in Shibuya. Rhyme was pretty good at reading Soul power, but she couldn't sense Weiss. She had never seen him before, but Beat sure as hell did, "Yo! You're the one who fought that noise with me!"

Thanatos glanced at his partner with suspicion. "You know these guys?"

"Hello Beat, did you finish your design?." He said in an annoyingly calm way. Beat punched another Noise and gave him a nod.

"I sure did man. We're here to help. Someone we know is in dis game."

Weiss smiled, "I'm glad you're on our side. This must be Rhyme right?"

Rhyme still couldn't sense this guy. Why couldn't she? How come he was playing the game again? How come he knew Beat? How come he knew her name?

Her attention split to Uzuki. Uzuki had other Reapers show up. Kariya appeared with a few other soldier class Reapers. "What's wrong?"

Uzuki pointed at Beat and Rhyme, "Those two! Those two! Them! They ruined it! And why is HE here?!" She pointed at Weiss at the end there.

Kariya shrugged, "Not sure. We should ask him. Hey Weiss, are you the one the Composer is after?"

Rhyme and Thanatos heard that. Their eyes went to him then back to Kariya.

Weiss put it simply, "No. But I suspect it has something to with my actions. The Composer simply told me I must play the game again. I've been wondering what all the commotion is about myself." Weiss looked at Rhyme, "It seems the heroes of the game six years ago have returned once again to the battlefield. This should prove interesting shouldn't it?"

Kariya smirked and glanced at all remaining players, "Well I'd like to take the moment to congratulate all the players who survived this mission. I am Kariya Koki, I am the Game Master for this week. Now I'm the type of person who prefers a dull uninteresting game. But it seems that this week that yields next to no chance of being true."

Kariya made a motion with his hand. And Reapers all stood in attention. "There are illegal players in this game that must be removed. By order of the Composer himself, if they are among you we are to erase them here and now. We await the Composer's orders! The Conductor will examine you all. If the illegal player is found, we will erase them and continue the game as planned."

The players looked at one another. Rhyme looked at Weiss again. "You had to play the game again, right? That makes you an illegal player?"

Weiss didn't seem too worried, "Oh yes. I'm an illegal player. If I were to be attacked by all these Reapers there'd be no way I'd survive. They'd erase me in an instant."

Thanatos commented, "That not bother you?"

Weiss cocked his head with shut eyes, "Not particularly."

Thanatos scoffed, "Maybe I'm not the only one here who has issues."

Kariya waited and got a phone call. He opened the phone and listened. He slid the phone shut then announced, "The illegal player is not among us. The Composer has ordered the game shall continue. I congratulate you on defeating the first day." Kariya made a motion and the Reapers vanished. Whoever they were looking for wasn't here.

XXXXX

"So... Mr. Sakuraba is going to help us?" Nanami asked while she sat at the Ramen store. She would have been drinking coffee but her nerves were already on edge.

Hanekoma sipped coffee, but he didn't seem to like it, "Yeah. Neku's a good kid. He'll help us out."

Nanami shook her head, "Neku's my boss."

Hanekoma was interested, "Is he?"

"Yes. He hired me right after the interview."

Hanekoma shook his head and sipped, "Sounds like how he does things. Hires quickly."

Nanami frowned, "So... Why did you really save me? There's a reason right?"

Hanekoma put it flatly, "I didn't agree with what Joshua was doing."

Neku entered the store. He had Shiki with him, "I called Beat and Rhyme. They're making sure the mission is clear. What's happened?"

Hanekoma waved a hand towards Nanami, "It's as I told you. We're both in the game."

Neku wanted answers, "I got that. Why are you in the game?"

Nanami raised a hand slightly, "Joshua had me imprisoned. Hanekoma rescued me and made a pact with me, now he's in the game."

Shiki tried to be of some comfort before more questions arose. She put a hand on Nanami's shoulder, "It's good to see you Nanami. I'm glad you're OK."

Neku got more to the point, "Do you know why Joshua kidnapped you?"

Nanami wasn't quite sure, but she had an idea, "Well. I had a partner last game. His name was Weiss."

Neku cut in, "Do you know his last name?"

She couldn't remember him mentioning a last name. Just Weiss. She shook her head then continued, "Weiss helped me win the Reaper's game. I was able to win become of him. He helped me figure out my price and he didn't seem to remember much about his past. Hanekoma, you know him right?"

Mr. H just sipped his coffee, "He's my best customer. He showed up about six years ago. He's been living here since then. He's never missed a day without some of my coffee."

Neku tried to dig more information, "Why is Joshua interested in him? Did he kidnap Nanami because she was partnered with him?"

Hanekoma tried to put it another way, "Well... I can't say much about Weiss. But Joshua needs to find a replacement for himself."

Neku raised an eyebrow, "Pardon?"

Shiki looked at Neku a moment then back at Hanekoma, "What do you mean? Like a new Composer?"

Hanekoma nodded, "He was going to make Weiss the new Composer. But he needed a bargaining chip to ensure Weiss did what he expected. You don't become partners with someone and feel nothing towards them. Weiss cared about Nanami enough to give Joshua the impression she might be useful. So he kidnapped her. I saved her."

Nanami seemed to be upset, "Why?! I mean, I'm glad you helped me when you did, but you didn't need to risk yourself like that."

Neku looked at Hanekoma who calmly sipped his drink, "I didn't like what Joshua was doing. Sorry."

That was it? That was his only reason?

Hanekoma had worse news, "This city doesn't have long, Neku. Two weeks at the most maybe. The Noise seal in the sky, you've seen it, right? They can't stay up there forever. The Noise are coming down to the city faster and faster every day. It might seem fine for now. But pretty soon we're going to be swimming in them. Joshua asked me to find a way to save the city."

This was big news, really big news. Like complete silence worthy news.

Shiki asked, "Why didn't you tell us sooner."

Hanekoma put it simply, "I couldn't."

Shiki was flabbergasted, "Why not? We should have known this months ago. Did you not know?"

Hanekoma sipped his coffee. "Joshua told me not to tell you."

Neku was getting pissed really fast, "You mean to tell me he knew about this? Noise coming down to eat this city and he knew we only had this long. And you're telling me he told you not to tell us."

Hanekoma nodded, "That's right."

Neku was understandably pissed now, "We need to start an evacuation. We need to get people out of here!"

Hanekoma sighed and shook his head, "It isn't that simple."

Neku yelled in a restaurant and made everyone look, "WELL WHY ISN'T IT?!"

He blinked. His hands were shaking. His fury went away in an instant. People were looking staring and he apologized to the crowd, "Sorry for the outburst." He sat down and grabbed his wife's hand.

Hanekoma motioned to the people around him, "Noise follow people. If we do nothing, the Noise are going to spread across the whole world. Shibuya has so much Noise it would cause catastrophic damage to the rest of the world. Joshua's initial plan was to erase Shibuya. He changed his mind, but there was some method to that madness. If Shibuya is erased, then the rest of the world won't have to suffer."

Neku shook his head, "Alright so what are our options? What's Joshua got planned?"

Hanekoma looked up at the sky, "I can't tell you. Not because I don't know. But because I can't. I won't lie to you kiddo, but being Producer has downsides. You can't talk openly about whatever you want. There's rules I have to follow and I can't break them. What I can tell you is that Joshua needs someone to become Composer so he can get help."

"From who?"

Hanekoma sounded like he wanted to say more, "The angels."

Shiki blinked. Angels? She hadn't heard of them before. Reapers? Sure. Composers. Yeah. Angels? The only one she knew about was Hanekoma.

Neku looked up, "You're an angel too, right?"

Nanami got wide eyed. "An angel?"

Hanekoma nodded, "Yeah, but I got punished for doing things I shouldn't have."

Neku asked, "Like what?

"Well for one... standing against the Composer. And for two. I taught a human how to modify Noise."

Shiki paused, "Hanekoma? Aren't you standing against the Composer now?"

Hanekoma nodded, "Yes. That means I'll be in trouble when the week is over. Odds are the angels will send someone to collect me and bring me back to the angel plane."

Nanami felt terrible. "You're? You're going to die? Because of something I did?"

Hanekoma corrected her, "No, it's because of Joshua. I'm not going to die, Nanami. I'll be just fine. Don't worry."

Neku confessed to something, "Joshua asked me to Composer a few times. I said no."

Shiki was surprised about that, "You didn't tell me that."

Neku shook his head, "I didn't want to tell you. We had a lot going on as it was, I wanted to tell you at a better time."

Shiki also had something similar she wanted to talk about. "I... I think I understand. I also had some things I wanted to talk about after the wedding, but... Right now we need to focus on Shibuya. Everyone is in danger now. We need to find a way to save these people."

Neku put it simply, "Right now we need to let Hanekoma work. Hanekoma, can you keep working on ways to save the city?"

Hanekoma nodded, "Yes. I still have a few tests to make and I'm waiting on the results. If we can find a way to even slow the Noise down, that'd be a huge improvement. For now just make sure Nanami beats the game and do what you can to help her."

Neku had another idea. "We need to talk to Joshua. We need to meet him and we need to meet this Weiss. If Joshua thinks he has potential to become Shibuya's next Composer then I'd like to see that for myself."

Nanami chimed in, "Weiss is unaffected by imprints. Even when he was alive he could see Noise. He's pretty good with psyches, but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of him becoming Composer. He knew way too much about the game. He said he came from somewhere else."

Neku asked a simple question, "Do you think he's human?"

Nanami was baffled, "Well..."

Neku pointed at Hanekoma, "Does his soul feel like Hanekoma?"

Nanami shook her head, "No. He felt human, completely human. But he's missing a huge portion of his memories and I think he's been tampered with mentally."

Hanekoma raised an eyebrow, "Mentally?"

Nanami tried to explain, "Like... He forgets doing things. It felt like he was made to play this game. Like someone went into his mind and took parts out they didn't like. Joshua claims to know what he is. I don't think he's an angel."

Hanekoma commented, "I can't tell you too much about angels, but she's right. Weiss isn't an angel. But that doesn't mean he has no involvement with them. That's all I can say."

Neku looked at Hanekoma and raised an eyebrow, "You know who he really is don't you?"

Hanekoma once again smirked, "I wish I could tell you everything I know, kid. But I'm not allowed to. I'm pushing the line. But I can confirm with Nanami that he's not an angel himself."

Shiki pointed out, "But do you think an angel would have messed with him? Or brought him here?"

Hanekoma shut both eyes, he couldn't say.

Neku gave him a pat, "Don't worry. We'll figure it out in time. What we need to focus on is meeting Joshua and finding out what he knows. If he really has a way of saving Shibuya I want to hear his ideas."

Neku actually was a little worried about Joshua. If Joshua could have just came up to Neku and explained it he would have. That meant Joshua was planning something reckless. Something Neku wouldn't approve of. Something he needed a bargaining chip worthy of manipulating a Composer. What the hell did he need someone else as the Composer for? What the hell did he need them to do as Composer? What was Joshua up to? This boded ill.

Neku remembered what Rhyme told him on the phone, "Rhyme said the Conductor was heading for the square root of three... I say we pay him a visit."

The mission was clear and the day was over.

XXXXXX

It was silent after Sho left. The coffee shop was empty for the night.

It was a suited man. Black and red were his colors. People were afraid of him for good reason. He wasn't human. He looked around the shop and ignored the police caution tape. "It would seem that Hanekoma has joined the Reaper's game… your orders?"

Charon spoke on his phone to his superior and the other end was impossible to hear.

The other end of the phone gave Charon orders. Whatever he said Charon heard.

Charon acknowledged the orders given, "Understood… As for the Composer?"

Once again there was no sound. The wind kicked behind him. "Understood. As for the Conductor?"

The voice on the other end must have asked for Charon's observations.

He listened a moment then spoke into the phone, "He is capable of using the Taboo Noise, so he does pose some threat. However even in Hanekoma's weakened state there are many who would defend him. Do you want me to interfere?"

Charon listened and nodded. "Understood. I will report my findings to you at the designated time."

Charon hung up the phone and walked away, "Sanae Hanekoma... CAT... Producer... all names and titles. What you are is an angel. And even with your skill, you've gone too far old friend."

XXX

End Day 1

XXX

[I'll be working on other fanfiction stories soon. A story for Naruto and Gurren Lagann. Vote which one you would rather see. Don't care? Say so. ^^

As always reviews keep me going. The more I hear what people like the faster I work. Help me help you. Send me a PM if you detect errors.]


	9. Week Two, Day Two: Why Live?

(All music has been removed, I might add it to fight scenes if someone thinks that's a good idea. It only took forever, but I did say I would edit didn't I? By the way somebody wish me Happy Birthday. It's the 18th, that's my birthday ^^.)

Week 2 Day 2: Why live?

Neku walked with Hanekoma, "Do you think it's wise to meet the Conductor?"

Hanekoma gave a half grin. Neku must have been nervous, "This was your idea, phones."

That wasn't the point at all, "I suppose the better question would be… Do you think Joshua will do something stupid?"

Hanekoma had to think, "Depends what you mean by stupid. Joshua is never stupid. Joshua is desperate and running out of time… I don't know what he'll do."

The best they could do is see what he was planning. Joshua was always unnaturally clever, even by standards of Composers. What Hanekoma knew was that Joshua needed someone to take his place as Composer.

The original idea being Neku, but Weiss recently got promoted to Joshua's backup plan. In order to control Weiss, Joshua needed leverage and that's where Nanami came in. How he intended to use said leverage was another thing entirely. Hanekoma had no intention of finding out, "There's Minamimoto."

The ragged Conductor was still wearing a suit and still looking like a mugger. Yes that's right. A mugger in a suit. How he pulled it off probably could be explained in math terms. Most likely how he explained his current situation in math terms, "Here's the numbers you requested. I did the math, it's possible."

Joshua stood nearby and looked over the seal Hanekoma was fiddling with recently. "Well… it'll have to do. I'll need to test it on a small scale. If it's too much to handle we'll just have to go with my original idea. Time is an illusion, but an illusion that's rapidly fading."

Joshua handed the paper back after memorizing the contents. Sho nodded his head toward Neku, "What about him? Is he a part of your final solution?"

Joshua turned to see Neku and he grinned like the devil. This wasn't the normal Joshua. This was Joshua when he was pretending to be a villain. Maybe he wasn't pretending anymore. If he threw away Hanekoma what else didn't matter? Joshua was going in the wrong direction and talking sense into him might not work.

Hanekoma tried to prevent a scene, "Hey kiddo, I brought some help. Didn't come here to fight."

Joshua reminded him, "Oh you know me, I abhor bloodshed. I'm glad you brought Neku, it's nice to see my old friends in one place. So… Neku have you given any thought to taking my job?"

Hanekoma held up a hand to prevent Neku from saying an inventive and/or insulting response. "Joshua, if you leave Nanami out of this I'll help you again. But when you start hurting people… that's when you've crossed the line."

Joshua had a witty retort, "And who drew the line? I neither drew this line of morality nor respect it. Those who draw lines in the sand are crushed by those who don't. As for my plan, I'll assure you that things will get worse if you stand in my way. Let's go back to being friends, I promise I'll be far nicer if you hand the girl over."

Hanekoma was confident that wasn't true, "Think about it, chief. You're standing against your old friends. The only one standing in your way is your own ego. There's a part of you that needs to be stopped."

Joshua looked at Neku, "Let me put it to you this way… you're both standing in my way. You say I've crossed the line but you're the ones who drew it. If Neku but agreed to become Composer… then all your troubles would soon go away. My ego isn't the one that needs to be regulated, Neku... give up your senseless pride and become Composer. I need your power to purge this city."

Neku pointed out the risk, "I know how it is. If I'm Composer I'll be destroyed with the city. My friends wouldn't listen if I told them to leave me… they care too much to just leave the city with me in it. I'm not shackling myself to a sinking ship, just so you can have me and my friends here to fight. You're just trying to save yourself. You're not going down with your ship… you're trying to make someone else captain."

Joshua sighed, "You know… I'm not the only one trying to save myself. But saving this city is my charge as Composer. I have ways of forcing you to become Composer. Well actually... I do need you to agree. You can't make an unwilling person Composer, but I can make an unwilling person willing."

Neku made it clear, "I'm leaving this city after I help Hanekoma. I have no intention of helping risk the whole world to save one place. Shibuya won't die with the location. The spirit of Shibuya spreads far beyond this country. We'll find another place to exist and expand our horizons from there. I'm not going to infect the entire world with noise or even risk it. The Noise need to be quarantined and destroyed."

Joshua had a different belief, "Neku if we defeat the Noise… and we can. Why let your home be destroyed in the first place? People will die, most people won't get out. We should save Shibuya from the Noise, not let them hand it to them on a platter."

Neku didn't care, "I can't risk myself… not now."

Joshua knew why, "Oh yes… you married Shiki. Honestly you could have done better than her. If you played your cards right I'd bet you could get hitched to a Composer… not necessarily me."

Neku had a mental image of stabbing Joshua in the neck with a sharpened toothbrush. It distracted him long enough for him to get hit by a piece of junk which fell from the sky.

Joshua did that?

Joshua hit more buttons on his phone which caused more junk to fall from the sky. It was his psyche before he became Composer, his phone. Whenever he pressed a button he could hit the enemy with objects that appeared out of nowhere and flung/ dropped themselves on his target. When Hanekoma turned his head to Neku, Sho appeared and gave him a strong punch in the chest sending him flying back.

Joshua turned his back, "Hanekoma… next time you approach an enemy. Make sure you bring backup." Joshua stepped back as Kotori and Okami jumped from building tops to engage Neku.

Okami and Kotori were both waiting in secret for a moment to assist their Conductor. "Out of the way, bitch! This pup is mine!"

Kotori didn't listen she began with a heel drop using the speed of falling off a building to give her kick strength. She looked like she REALLY didn't want to be there. Neku rolled out of the way and got to his feet to dodge Okami slashing at him with claws. He would have got a hit off on Neku but there was a black barrier that got in the way. Neku was a master at psyches and he proved it when he unleashed a wall of black fire at the both of them, "When six darklit planets align…" He shot black metal shots as well knocking back Okami, "They release unspeakable power."

Neku looked at Joshua who had no intention of fighting. He sat there smug as the devil, "Sho… end this quickly. You've been charging up your new ultimate attack haven't you? Hit him with the level _I_ flare and try not to get yourself killed. Finding Conductors isn't as easy as it used to be."

Hanekoma was surprised to be caught off guard like this, but he wouldn't be hit by the same move twice. Sho attempted to hit him again and the Conductor was met with a powerful noise fist. Hanekoma transformed his body into the shape of a Noise. He began to rapidly attack Sho from different directions. The Conductor managed to block or dodge every attack, but found himself unable to hit Hanekoma. All openings were closed. Hanekoma might not look like much of a brawler, but he knew how to keep his stance and he knew how to put as much effort as he wished into attacks.

His ultimate attack was being charged up through that entire conversation. Sho did not calculate Kotori and Okami assisting him, but then he didn't expect Neku to be there either. This worked out fine. Just a little longer.

Sho let out a cry and transformed his legs into his noise form. Two legs of a black lion the grinning Conductor shot backwards and his speed soon matched Hanekoma's. Minamimoto transformed his arms next allowing him to effectively hit Hanekoma with one good shot. Minamimoto's legs changed back to normal the moment his arms became Taboo. Apparently in his off time he learned to shapeshift parts of his body into a Noise form at will.

He was almost ready to use his ultimate attack, he just had to buy a little more time. To his surprise he was hit from behind, not by Neku but another noise. "You… you have two noise forms? Out at once?"

Hanekoma did indeed. One noise was power and the other was trickery. Both two sides of a coin and both two sides of his soul. "It's the anima of the Soul. You'll recognize my main form is actually yours but highly modified. My second is a modified form of Tigress Cantus." The tigress form rushed past him knocking him in the direction of Hanekoma. This gave Hanekoma time to strike. Sho met Hanekoma's noise fist and the impact said that his physical power was far beyond the Conductor. He was knocked back and it was becoming increasingly obvious he couldn't beat Hanekoma in a fair fight.

However Sho started laughing shortly after the hit.

This unnerved Hanekoma, "There's nothing to laugh about here, Sho."

The Conductor went to full human form and began rattling off numbers, "3.-"

Hanekoma was in trouble.

"1, 4, 5! 9!-" Sho rattled off more and more numbers light began to build around him as he spoke. This attack could possibly kill a Composer if it actually hit. Although he never did find a way to hit Joshua. Sho was going to use it on Hanekoma. Hanekoma had to stop him from using the attack, but he getting blown back by the massive force of the attack merely charging.

Neku turned his head to see a flash of light and he recognized the attack all too well, "No! Dammit! No!" He shut his eyes a moment as the flash was too bright for him to handle. It was unthinkable, Sho was preparing that attack during the whole conversation. The blast went straight for Hanekoma.

Neku turned to look at Joshua who seemed to be frowning at the sight. "You son of a bitch! You just killed your oldest friend!"

Joshua didn't look at Neku he just squinted at that the light, "Neku… Hanekoma didn't get hit by the attack…"

Neku turned around to see that Sho stood silent as a new opponent arrived, Charon.

Hanekoma seemed just as surprised as everyone else did. When did Charon stand between Sho and Hanekoma?

"You destroyed one of my fallen noise with that attack… Pity." He must have summoned a powerful noise to take the hit for Hanekoma. Who the hell was this? And why was he acting like Sho posed absolutely NO threat.

Sho didn't know whether to attack this visitor or retreat. His power was immense, more so than even his. "Composer, by order of the angels… Call off your reapers. Attacking a living human is against the rules."

His gloved hand pointed at Neku, "He is not a part of your game."

Joshua paused a moment, "I didn't expect to see you here."

Charon didn't take that as an answer, "Allow me to explain the situation. If you make one more move… I am within my full right to erase you here and now… as well your reapers. My powers can only be used against law breakers such as yourself. If even one more attack goes off… I will slaughter all of you. Attacking a player off of mission time and using reapers to engage a living human… is an offense worthy of my intervention. Stand down or be erased."

Joshua could see his power, he was a worthy opponent. In terms of raw strength he was up there with a Composer, maybe even more than a Composer. His powers were determined by what rules were being broken and who broke them. Joshua may have a chance to erase him, but with Hanekoma and Neku present, it proved to be impossible. Okami and Kotori turned to Joshua unsure of what to do. Joshua paused a moment and held his hand up, "We're leaving. Sho I'll speak with you later on this matter."

Okami wouldn't have it, "We should settle this now! We should kill them-" Before another word came out Okami was struck by a palm strike from Charon. The attack left a black seal on his back which effectively paralyzed him. "A verbal threat was issued, appropriate action was taken."

Charon took off his red shades and tucked them in his suit jacket. His eyes were red and slit like a beast. His expression showed no pity or empathy. Okami couldn't move and he didn't know why. "What did you do?"

Joshua shrugged, "Young miss, pick up your coworker. We're leaving." Joshua didn't figure Charon would show up quite that quickly. The angels caught on much faster than usual.

Kotori nodded and threw Okami over her shoulder. "Sorry Neku, we'll have to meet again some other time. Charon is right though, we shouldn't be fighting." Neku didn't notice her or her words.

Neku got up as if he were going to go after them and a barrier came up between him and the other reapers. Hanekoma told Neku, "Phones, stop. Charon can't take sides he only stops rule breaking."

Neku argued, "They attacked us!" Which was true, had Neku been able to think straight he might have been thankful this happened. But he didn't feel like he could think straight.

Charon's presence made Neku feel ill somehow. His aura was worse than any noise, "And you… a living human joined with a player, you used your psyches in the underground from the UG. Let the week run its course. As for you former Producer… You know what will happen at the end of this week."

Hanekoma nodded, "Yeah I know… Thanks for the backup."

Charon left with slow strides, "I look forward to the day you are rid of this city. I pray you restored to your former glory." The demon vanished after those words. Neku had to get to tell Shiki what happened.

Joshua didn't say what he was planning, but it looked like he was willing to use a Lvl _I _flare on Hanekoma just to get the job done. Joshua was nuts.

XXXXX

"So what's your real name anyway?" Weiss was curious enough.

Thanatos ended the conversation topic like a bad joke, "What's yours?"

Weiss thought about that question, "You don't think Weiss is my name? Why not?"

Thanatos pointed out everything he noticed about Weiss, "Weiss isn't a name... it's more like an alias. You're not normal, you're like me. You're after something or you're hunting something. To that end people like us make up names, just so we can hide our true nature from ourselves or others."

Weiss was interested, "Hide our true nature? And what nature might that be?"

Thanatos went on, "Self destruction. Any human's true nature is self destruction. I found this truer the longer I lived. Humans seek their own destruction and as do I."

Weiss found this interesting, part of it was true. "So all humans seek death do they? Natural instinct dictates that humans want to survive. No human wants to die."

Thanatos seemed mad at his next choice words, "Then I'm not human."

Weiss shrugged, "You're in this game, you're a player. That's sign enough that you're as human as I am."

Thanatos chuckled at that. Something about that comment seemed funny.

Weiss asked him, "Something I said amused you? Why?"

Thanatos didn't care to answer, "I'm not a player… this game doesn't apply to me."

Before another word the phone beeped and Weiss' own phone vibrated. It was time for the mission and it came early morning. "Seems there's a tin pin tournament today… at Darklit…"

It was clear enough what the mission meant thanks to the convenient sign that was posted not far from them. There was an advertisement posted in an alley way. It was a place for old posters to be replaced by new ones. The newest one was the tin pin tournament for the diamond pin. Supposedly the tin pin champion was coming and the president of Darklit would be saying a few words to the players. It seemed the puzzle wasn't the mission's riddle, the puzzle was how to actually complete the mission. Weiss thought a moment on how best to address the situation. He needed to move his partner, "I still owe you food don't I?... How's ramen sound?"

_Below the darklit sun, a diamond moon shines. Reach for the moon and face all who stand between you and victory. The diamond moon is your prize, but do not touch it. Touching the treasure means. You have six hours._____**_–The Reapers_**

They weren't far from the tournament in Molco. Darklit of course spent considerable time to ensure the fans kept interested. Neku sadly played no part in it, he got off of tin pin and claimed that he hated the game. The thing was, that didn't stop his company from milking the product for all the money it was worth. Despite Neku hating the game, he himself was actually the direct owner of the game. Unfortunately he never did manage to destroy the game, there were three things stopping him. The first thing that stopped him from stopping tin pin development was the money. His company kept making money off it, so why stop? The second thing stopping him was that he was busy with other things and other projects to busy himself with tin pin. The third thing stopping him was the most powerful, Shiki wouldn't allow it. She herself didn't play but she thought of all the children who did and how much fun they had. After she made Neku swear not to cancel tin pin, Neku found his hands tied. Tin pin was going to stay in development. But at the very least he didn't have to sully his hands with the game. Or so he thought… He apparently had to speak a few words to the fans today. One could imagine his dread.

Weiss found it easy to get Thanatos to follow him, but getting him to talk was another thing entirely. "So… how do people seek out self destruction?"

Thanatos didn't answer he just kept walking.

Weiss surmised a guess, "Is it because people's desires are their own destruction? Those who live to please themselves only meet death. Or is it because death is unavoidable? Or maybe death is a part of living, neither good nor evil. It's a part of living, we humans view it as a horrible thing… but it isn't. Death must occur for new life to come. If there were no death there wouldn't really be living in the first place. Be it plants or animals, humans consume to live. Animals hunt one another, for new life to come, death must come."

Thanatos kept quiet and walked.

Weiss normally could get a reaction out of Nanami. This guy was different. He was a bit more of a mystery. This blue guy believed he wasn't a player, well he was. He had to be if he were in the game. Unless of course there was a piece of information missing, "What was your price? It's dangerous if I don't know."

Thanatos motioned ahead, "Darklit ramen, you said you'd buy me lunch right?" That was the condition on the first day to make him help. The idea wasn't entirely one a genius came up with, but it did work. Well one thing Weiss didn't seem to be short on funds.

Weiss led him into the store where he saw something or rather someone. Nanami? What was she doing here at Darklit entertainment? Was she staying with Neku? She was alive, but who was she partnered with? Why wasn't she at the mission yesterday?

Thanatos saw the expression of shock on Weiss' face, "You know that girl?"

Weiss nodded, "She was my partner." It took another moment before he took another step, "Order anything you want. Be sure not to eat too much. We can't have you getting sick now."

Thanatos stepped toward the cashier, "I'll just give you the bill when I'm done ordering. One meal right?"

After a nod Weiss set his sights on Nanami. As he approached she was looking down at the table, "I hope Neku's going to be ok."

Weiss interrupted, "I hope he's alright too, is he here?"

The girl's head turned so fast it looked like it should hurt, "Weiss?" Nanami's eyes scanned the area frantically looking for who his partner was, "What happened to you? Who's your partner?"

Shiki interrupted, "Umm… you might want to calm down a bit. You're making a scene."

Nanami did a quick apologetic bow, "Sorry, I'm just surprised. I should have expected I'd run into you eventually. Particularly since the mission."

Weiss nodded, "It makes sense I'd be here thanks to the mission. Did you read?"

Nanami looked at her phone and said, "I was thinking of asking Hanekoma about the mission." Weiss shook his head, "You didn't get it, then? It's the tin pin tournament today. I wondered if you might have come for that."

Thanatos raised an eyebrow, "Shiki Misaki… is that right?"

Shiki thought it strange that this young man knew her name, "Um… yes?"

He gave a quick nod, "You did some very good work. Is your bastard husband about?" He said bastard carelessly as if it meant nothing.

Shiki thought a moment before telling him, "How do you know about me and Neku?" She ignored the bastard comment for now.

Weiss explained a part of it, "It's not exactly a secret, anyone who knows anything about the underground has heard of Neku. But knowing her by appearance is a little strange."

Thanatos sat down at a nearby table, "When Neku gets here… I'd like a few words with him."

He handed Weiss the receipt and waited with his chin resting on his thumbs. Nanami was quick to change the subject, "Joshua is trying to use you."

Weiss chuckled, "I noticed before you did, I assure you. He probably needs a favor from me."

Shiki was a little unnerved, "So… you're the other one capable of becoming Composer?" Weiss went ahead and explained, "It takes a certain level of power and skill to become a Composer. Although many believe it's a simple act of killing the Composer, it's really more complicated. First of all the amount of power needed to kill a Composer is more than any normal human possesses. So Composers are often chosen or… elected. Although Composers usually don't give up their power willingly. Joshua needs someone who could theoretically kill him."

Thanatos took his Ramen and listened as well.

Weiss continued, "Neku is the best choice and I suppose I'd be the second best choice. We both have a wide array of psyches and both possess the knowledge of the Composer's true identity. Sho Minamimoto is another choice… However his beliefs about the city and world are dangerous. Joshua would not willingly allow him to be Composer. It has to be Neku."

Shiki asked, "What about you, couldn't you become Composer?"

Weiss rubbed his chin, "Yes… but he wanted to use Nanami as leverage. If he could have just asked me to become Composer… then he would. No, he wants me to do something. Something I wouldn't do by choice or at least something that he needs leverage for. For now, it's best I win this game. Or…"

Nanami was watching Thanatos the whole time, "Weiss… does he know you're an illegal player and all?"

Thanatos slurped some ramen and said, "Yup, don't care. You act like you know this guy, but you don't." Thantos had a way of always sounding right. Even if he was a little rude.

Weiss found that intriguing, "Whatever do you mean? Are you saying she doesn't know me?"

Nanami kind of knew what he meant, "Well… you're a little confusing sometimes…"

Thanatos finished drinking out of the bowl and responded, "I'm saying you're a mystery to me. I became your partner to see if you were capable of helping me. Now I'm hearing you're one of the handful of people who could be Composer? I'm willing to bet my life you're no ordinary player. What are you exactly?"

Shiki kind of wondered the same thing, someone who got Joshua's interest couldn't be ordinary. Weiss shook his head, "You're an astute one. Alright, I'll tell you what I can. I'm here on a very important mission, from a place with a very different game. I'm here to observe all factors of the city including the Underground. That's all I can say. As for you Thanatos, your price… what is it? As said before there are other powers around the world who have interest in what will happen here. It's no surprise someone would send someone over to have a look around."

Before Thanatos answered Neku and Hanekoma returned, both didn't seem to be involved in any sort of fight.

Shiki was the first to ask, "Are you alright?"

Neku tried to alleviate her worries with a quick kiss and a few words, "I'm fine. Babysitting Hanekoma is a easy task these days. He can take care of himself."

The man scratched the back of his head when he noted the two extras. "Oh Nanami, you found Weiss?"

Weiss smiled, "I found her by accident."

Nanami said, "Hanekoma saved me from Joshua. He made a pact with me so Joshua couldn't."

Hanekoma seemed to shut his eyes in shame as the eyes of Weiss lit up like fire, "What?..."

Thanatos noted the unusual irritation, no it was stronger than irritation, Weiss was genuinely angry.

Nanami had never seen him actually get mad before, "Umm... Weiss?"

"Hanekoma… you know what this means then?..."

Hanekoma shook his head and he said without regret, "I couldn't let Joshua-"

Weiss didn't care, "You dug your own grave! You know what's going to happen to you! Why did you do it?"

Weiss had yelled for the first time Nanami had ever seen.

Neku asked him, "What's going on…"

Weiss pointed at Hanekoma, "He's dead after this week. As soon as the day seven comes to an end… his life is forfeit. Charon will see to that…"

Neku's eyes widened and gave a fierce look at Hanekoma, "Is that true? Did you know that's what would happen if you made a pact with a player?"

Hanekoma didn't need to explain himself, "Look… death isn't the end. It's not the end of any of us. I've lived more than one lifetime… So has Joshua… It's people like us who have lived entirely too long. I suppose… I won't have to see Shibuya fall this way. I didn't have to see Nanami be used like a tool for Joshua's sake. When she made her choice, I made mine. I'll keep her safe and win this game. After you win the game, you live."

Weiss made a fist and turned his glare to the ceiling, "Living isn't enough… this city needs you! Without you everyone here is dead-"

Neku interrupted, "Hey… Leave the man alone. The city is dead anyway. Also… I may as well assume you're Weiss, right? Hanekoma doesn't need lip from anyone, least of all you. You're one of the reasons this happened. If I recall you're the one who got Nanami into this mess and so I consider you at fault too. It's your price that caused this chain of events. Don't be an idiot and blame Hanekoma for this."

Weiss turned and faced Neku, "If you chose to become Composer… if Nanami hadn't have died… if I hadn't have pacted with her… if Hanekoma hadn't chosen to protect her… none of this would have happened. The reason this happened was because this game is twisted."

Neku stopped him, "All that happened. Tough luck, Hanekoma may die. What are you going to do about it? Not beat the game?"

Weiss looked down a moment, plotting up a storm. Weiss thought with his eyes shut. Everyone was quiet and Shiki tugged on Neku's shirt, "We need to go… remember?"

Neku looked at Shiki and nodded, "You're right. Hanekoma, if you need help. Give me a call. For now, keep safe."

Thanatos got up and walked outside.

Weiss stood silent looking at the floor as Hanekoma walked away. Nanami looked down and to the left as guilt washed over her. She felt responsible, but then there were a number of reasons this all happened. But she didn't want to the think that someone had willingly chose to die to help her.

Hanekoma Weiss and Nanami were left alone for a moment.

XXX

Thanatos walked up to Neku outside and told Neku. "You're Neku Sakuraba right?"

He got a good look at Thanatos. "I've seen you..."

Thanatos turned his body and punched Neku in the stomach, "You're one of the reasons I died. I know you don't feel guilt, so I thought you'd feel that."

Thanatos walked back to the Ramen store before anyone could react. Neku seemed to know that punch was coming. He stopped leaning over and said to Shiki, "Let's go."

Thanatos kept silent as he finally asked Weiss, "How long are you going to stand there?" Weiss still stood silent with his eyes at the floor.

Hanekoma patted him on the back as he held a cup of coffee, "Don't take it too hard."

When Hanekoma sat down Weiss turned and looked at Hanekoma. "Joshua needs to pay… I'll make sure he does."

Nanami grimaced, "What are you going to do?"

Weiss turned to Thanatos, "If you help me defeat the Composer… I'll give you whatever you want."

Hanekoma's eyes turned to Weiss and wondered what he planned, "Defeat the Composer? What purpose would that serve?"

Weiss smiled a smile worthy of Joshua's ego, Thanatos liked the look on his face, "You look completely insane… Count me in whatever you're planning."

If I become Composer I can undo the damage!"

Nanami didn't like where this was going, "You can't beat the Composer! You just can't! You'd be playing in his hands! He wants someone to become Composer…"

Hanekoma saw it now, "Joshua wants to transfer his power… you're just going to erase him completely. Whatever he has in mind doesn't involve him being erased."

Nanami shook her head, "No! What about the missions?"

Thanatos chuckled at the girl, "I'm guessing you want the other players to handle it?"

Weiss kept grinning, "There's no legal mission that could stop Hanekoma. We can leave it to him. If Joshua pulls anything too hectic he'll be erased by the angels. He can't break a single rule. Not one. He can't even graze them now."

Hanekoma sipped his coffee, "I'm getting a lot of credit here. But I guess you aren't asking if I want to go along… after all I intend to take care of all of the missions and that just helps you out by coincidence."

Nanami pointed out, "We've been wasting time, there's a mission."

Thanatos grinned, "The tin pin tournament… you have a plan?"

Hanekoma took a wild guess, "Basically… I figure we win the diamond pin in the coming tournament… but don't touch it… nah… Second place. We need a player to get second place."

Nanami looked at the mission mail, "Reach for it… but don't touch it… does it mean just to try to get it and lose?" It was definitely a possible interpretation.

Weiss and Thanatos got up, "I'm sorry, but… could you make an order for me?"

Hanekoma paused, "Order for you?"

Weiss nodded, "If you don't mind… I need some special pins ordered for later."

XXXX

"This is pretty good, Kariya." Uzuki found herself impressed yet again.

Kariya yawned and shook his head, "Well… the players will figure out the obvious parts… most of them are at the tournament. Odds are one of them figured it out."

Uzuki saw the brilliant part, "But to think that we actually managed to implement noise into all this."

Kariya nodded, "Yeah… but the noise won't erase them all, not today at least."

Uzuki leaned next to him, "We got all week to do that. I'm sure with your planning and my hard work, we'll be unstoppable."

Kariya twirled his lollipop and agreed, "We do make a good team. But there's some players who make a good team. I'll leave it to you to erase them all. Make sure those noise pins are placed perfectly. They go off on contact, right?"

Uzuki giggled, "You? Worried? Leave it all to me, the pins are set as instructed, everyone who loses a game will have to face the noise. I doubt we have any tin pin champions among the players."

Kariya had to take a wild guess, "Well… at least I know none of them have a history with the game… but we'll see… we'll see."

The Tin Pin champion Shuto Dan was here at the tournament. There wasn't anyone among the players who could beat him.

XXXX

Mokoto was a responsible manager, he had organized this tin pin tournament without a hitch. The music was lively, the crowds were amused, the players were enjoying their game and of course free prizes.

Everything was going great, until the hitch arrived, "Do I really have to be here?" The hitch being Neku Sakuraba, his boss.

Mokoto sighed as his chief opposition spoke. Neku may have arrived. But after arriving, he was busying himself trying to leave. Neku hated the game of tin pin and hated the fans even more. Despite this, he was the proud owner of the company who sponsored tin pin's development. What was worse is people thought he actually liked the game, in spite of the evidence. "Look it's THE Sakuraba! The genius who makes tin pin what it is!"

A fan said. Others shouted, "Sign my pins!"

"Sign my pins!"

"Sign my face!"

Neku silently walked away his thoughts carefully weaving together an escape plan. He had to get out of the hellhole.

Shiki had to ask, "Neku… I know that you didn't always feel this way about tin pin. What happened?"

Neku took the opportunity to vent, "Well… I never really liked tin pin… but owning it for a few years has taught me to hate it. The fans follow me in the streets, the players challenge me to games, the women request me to sign their breasts… One of those things doesn't bother me… but still."

Shiki was used to that sort of thing though. Luckily for her, Neku made it a habit to shoo away any fangirls. Now how he got fangirls was another thing entirely. It probably had to do with him having a number of male fans who girls fawned over. Basically he got popular over time because of things other people said about him.

The first one was the prince Eiji Oji, widely considered 'The most popular man on the face of the Earth.' Although the details vary some say 'most popular in the universe' others say 'most popular in all of time' and even more said, "Sign my breasts." The prince occasionally did so. Neku was accidentally approaching the prince's popularity. Half of this was thanks to tin pin. Neku hated people to begin with, but he still never could get over the thought of being chased by mobs of people.

Mokoto came to Neku with a smile on his face, but a frown in his heart, "Mr. Sakuraba! I'm glad you're here!" He wasn't. "I'm not." Neither was he. "Sir, I've hired two escorts from a private firm to keep you safe."

They were two security guards hired to drag him on stage, NOT keep him safe."Drag me up there and you're fired."

Unfortunately they were a private company security division, so firing them was impossible. They wore fake ID badges so Neku couldn't get his vengeance later.

Mokoto tried to explain, "Mr. Sakuraba, I've also prepared a few words you can say to the fans, they were promised you would speak here. You may need to act a little."

Neku would need to act the entire time. Neku would like nothing more than to confess his undying hatred for tin pin making him famous among the millions of idiot middle schoolers across the world. Neku needed to escape, "I think I'm becoming ill… I need a bathroom break…" It didn't work, two burly men kept dragging him to the stage. "I'll give you both 10,000 yen if you let me go…" They kept going, "Let me go or I'll buy out your company… then fire you!" He was getting closer and closer to the dreaded stage. He tried one final plea, "Someone shoot me!" He'd rather play the reapers game than do this.

It was too late, the crowd laughed as he got dragged to the podium. They must have thought it a joke. He stood up and looked at the crowd. He looked at the script before him, there was no way in hell he was reading it. He was going to put an end to all this. He was going to tell everyone what he thought, "I was forced to come up here."

He began as a few chuckles went off.

"I hate this, I hate tin pin and by association I hate you the fans."

More chuckling and some laughter.

The crowd began to laugh even more as he spoke, "There is a special place in hell for me, it will be full of tin pin players and it'll look a lot like this place only with flames."

The crowd laughed even harder and Neku looked perplexed as he was promptly escorted off the stage. They STILL loved him.

They applauded.

"Ahhh!" Neku screamed, but before he could strangle someone he was dragged off the stage.

They thought he was joking. They thought it was a show. Among the crowd people laughed and applauded the short, but amusing 'speech'.

Hanekoma and Nanami both weakly clapped with the rest. She nervously said "I don't think… they knew he was being serious…" Nanami confessed and Hanekoma agreed.

"What's the plan for the mission? Are we going to win fair and square?" Nanami was just guessing. "You're good at tin pin right?" Nanami was now hoping.

Hanekoma had to shatter those hopes with a few words, "I've never played tin pin. I'll need to think of some sort of plan."

Nanami looked around, "What kind of plan? If you don't know the basics of tin pin… how can you expect to win?"

Hanekoma shook his head, "I do know more than basics… I can make pins. I know the rules to the game but… I can't play."

Nanami thought that was odd and started realizing where this was going. "You make pins do you? Then what's to say you can't beat this tournament."

Hanekoma motioned over to some nearby players, "They've got skill I don't have. If we play fair, we'll lose. So… I think our best choice of action is to-"

Their words were interrupted, "Cheat?" Behind them Joshua stood with a grin on his face.

Hanekoma turned slowly and responded, "I was going to say even the odds, but yes. Cheat."

Joshua admired the honesty. What surprised Nanami is that Hanekoma wasn't defensive at all.

"What are you doing here?" Nanami gave him a furious look.

Hanekoma held up a hand. "Easy girl. He's here to help."

Nanami didn't believe it, "Joshua is not here to help!"

Joshua shrugged, "Say what you want. Hanekoma, how did Weiss and Neku react?"

Hanekoma thought about it, "More or less… as you might predict. Neku is helping me this mission at least. Weiss may try to erase you…"

Joshua nodded at that and smirked. "Does he honestly believe he's capable of such a thing? Weiss isn't very bright is he? Well… either way I've rigged the pins of all the top contenders. The players should have an advantage to complete the mission. But… you should still try your best."

Nanami looked at them both and soon became upon a divine revelation, "You… You both… No, you can't. You and Hanekoma are both working together?"

Hanekoma sighed, "Well… in a way. But…"

Nanami yelled and drew attention from everyone around her, "What you're doing is evil! You're tried to use me! You tried to erase me!"

Joshua smirked, "If you think using people is evil, then yes. However I'm not trying to erase you and Hanekoma… well… not really. The reapers will genuinely try to erase you. But I'm not really interested in erasing anyone. But… Neku being in the city vital. I need him to stay in this city at least another week. I'll need his help in the end and I'm taking extreme measures to make sure he stays."

Nanami shook her head, "What about Weiss! He shouldn't be involved in this!"

Joshua was devious indeed. This was just an elaborate ploy?! A scheme to keep Neku in the city? Why?! Surely there was an easier way! What was this? "He very well should. I can't tell you everything… After all… it's better you think I'm doing all this just for selfish reasons."

Hanekoma chuckled, "You are doing this for selfish reasons. But I don't believe the end justifies the means. The means of keeping Neku in this city are too much, I dare not ask if you have a way of making him stay even longer. Also… I couldn't let you threaten Nanami's life. I had a feeling you might."

Joshua shrugged, "I told you I wasn't going to erase her. But you still made a pact with her... That was not part of the plan, but I suppose it's fine. I don't think it'll change anything."

Nanami watched Joshua vanish without thought to other people seeing him.

She asked Hanekoma, "Have you been lying to us?"

Hanekoma sighed, "No… Joshua really did send his reapers to destroy me. He nor I think them capable of erasing me. The threat is very real and this game is very real."

Nanami couldn't tell if Joshua was acting or not, "He may be trying to trick us and want us both erased."

Hanekoma explained, "Joshua may seem evil to you… but he's not going to try to erase us. I think in the end… you'll see that he's trying to save this city. He genuinely wants to save this city… but… I fear his methods. I too think this city need be saved. But… I can't trust Joshua… not this time."

Nanami had another feeling, "Honestly… I'm not sure if I can trust you either."

XXXX

"So how do you expect to beat the Composer? Just walk in and beat him with psyches?" Thanatos began to ask.

Weiss was in just the mood to explain, "Beat the Composer with psyches? Oh no… I intend to recruit some help. We're going to find Sho Minamimoto."

Thanatos recalled from memory, "Well… that's going to be a hell of a task. I know he's the Conductor, but what makes you think he'll help you. It's his job to guard the Composer."

Weiss found that amusing, "No one can guard the Composer. The Composer is too powerful to be defeated by normal means. Sho Minamimoto faced him once and learned that even with the power of Taboo he was no match for the Composer."

Thanatos rolled his eyes, "Were you there or something to see it?"

Weiss didn't answer that particular question, he moved on. "With the power of Taboo… the Conductor is capable of making noise that follow only his command. Not only this… they're stronger than most noise."

Thanatos found that interesting, "Just like my psych… I can put my own Soul power into a Noise."

Weiss had a feeling he'd have to ask how Thanatos fought. The truth was, he didn't have to ask. Thanatos was about to demonstrate on nearby Noise.

The noise were pretty standard and conveniently non-threatening. "Mink noise… these will do."

Weiss wondered, "Shall I just stand back?"

Thanatos didn't answer he began by summoning a blue bear noise. "As you'll notice… I'm using this bear noise right now. My psyches only work on noise. Noise are made of Negative Soul power. I can manipulate Negative Soul. I can even force my own Soul power into another person to deal damage or stun."

Weiss had to guess, "So you can control Noise as a player? Is there a limit on how much you can do this?"

The noise weren't going to wait. They attacked Thanatos by twirling in the manner of a cyclone. They each let loose a squeal and readied an attack to deal some damage.

Thanatos explained, "As I said my psych affects noise… my weapon are each of my hands, left and right. One is for controlling the other for distorting…" His hand slowly came out of his pocket revealing that he had a blue tattoo on both hands. His left hand was used to control whatever noise he chose before battle, his right hand was there for his own protection and damaging enemies. Before the noise managed an attack they were both stunned by a palm strike. He didn't need to stun them, but it was an effective demonstration. The second they were stunned Thanatos made a gesture with his left hand and the noise under his control reacted based on his hand movements. He controlled his Noise like a puppet master and a puppet. It swiped both noise while they were helpless.

"It's reaction time is better than normal noise… You made it stronger." Weiss had to comment. Normal bear noise moved slowly, this one was quick. Thanatos didn't need to explain. The noise he controlled was based on his own power, it's attributes reflected his own strength His psych was powerful, but limited to Noise. "Can you collect new noise?" Weiss wondered.

Thanatos could very well do that but, "I don't keep my pins if the week starts over. So… mostly I just use this one. I had no drive to collect any other recently. Anyway… finish the others, I have no need to put forth any more effort." Thanatos put both hands in his pockets and dismissed his noise. The minks let out another squeal thinking they both had a chance to hit him. Each of the mink only made it a short distance before being completely destroyed by a mix of plasma bolts and shockwaves.

Thanatos asked, "Seems you can use a lot of psyches. I stand humbled… But with the correct noise under my control, I would potentially be able to defeat you… or anyone." Thanatos was arrogant and strong, a trait many in the underground shared. "Where shall we find this Conductor?"

XXXX

Neku couldn't figure it out, the more he hated them the more he heard, "We love you, Neku!"

The shouting idiots relentlessly followed him throughout the tournament. "Shiki… I'm going to pass out very soon… when I do… drag me out of here…" The crowds were getting to him.

Shiki sighed, "I think deep down you still hate people."

Neku countered, "I don't hate you. You got the ring to prove it!"

Shiki wasn't sure if Neku would ever like crowds, it was a problem due to his profession. He was still deep down as antisocial as ever. But he did learn to get along with a good number of people. This tin pin tournament might actually be good for him, "Please kill me!"

On second thought, the tin pin tournament might just be causing mental trauma. It looked as if Neku was going to pass out.

Shiki had to get him out after all, "Excuse us…" Shiki tried her best to pull Neku out of the crowd of people. But the problem with crowds of people is that they were hard to pull out of. In sight she saw Hanekoma working on some sort of a pin. "Is that Hanekoma?... Playing tin pin?"

Within an instance Neku seemed to pop out of his stupor, "What?"

Nanami asked, "So this pin… is like a super pin?" Nanami looked at it and found it's design odd. Do you think we'd be allowed to use this pin?"

Hanekoma wasn't sure, "We're gonna have to talk to phones about this…" Neku walked up behind him, "Now seems like a good time." Hanekoma didn't question providence for a second, "Since you're here. I need to tell you that I'll be cheating this entire time. We're going for the diamond pin and… Wow, I thought Nanami would suck more."

Nanami was actually doing extremely well at Tin Pin. A little too well actually. Nanami gave a weak little smile, "I had a boyfriend back in highschool who loved Tin Pin. He was probably the best person in our school."

Neku wondered, "So he taught you how to play."

Nanami let out a whimper, "No... he dumped me after I beat him three times in a row."

Hanekoma was impressed, "Oh..."

Nanami really messed that one up, "It was my first time playing too."

Both Hanekoma and Neku said, "Ouch."

Neku looked at the cheating pins Hanekoma made. "Well we can't leave anything to chance. Will those pins help?"

Hanekoma revealed a fairly simple looking pin. He examined it and noted that it had nothing special about it. "The weight and features of this one is… unimpressive."

Hanekoma smiled, "It looks exactly identical to a normal gatito pin… but… when your opponent looks at the pin." Neku and Shiki watched as Nanami tried a practice match with the pin. The opponent froze up and for some reason lost all focus on the game.

Neku guessed, "You put an imprint on the top of the pin?… clever. What's it do? Distort their thoughts?"

Hanekoma shrugged, "You have to use existing pins in this tournament, but this imprint should be undetectable… mostly."

Neku couldn't tell it apart from the any other pin, "Alright… you need me to rig the tournament?"

Hanekoma just had to say, "Make sure the champions play each other. Make sure all the players don't face anyone noteworthy if you can help it."

Shiki arrived with the roster and didn't see a problem at all, "That should be easy enough… want me to rig it now?"

Neku thought that was a good idea, "Yeah… you still have your player pin?"

Shiki showed it to him, "I'll use this to find players. I'll find as many as I can and position them accordingly"

Neku had a job to do, "I'll go ahead and rig the matches. It shouldn't be too hard considering I run this place. Anything else I can help you with?"

Hanekoma actually did have one more request, "Actually we could use one or two pins that you should have somewhere in stock." Hanekoma handed him a list of three pins, "If you could get those I think those should improve our chances as well." This mission was in the bag, no doubt it would go on without a hitch. Little did they realize that the reapers added a surprise or three.

XXXX

Sho Minamimoto walked across the crowded streets of Shibuya and he had a feeling there was one too many in the crowd, "Your presence here is subtracting from my arts and crafts time, Kotori."

The female reaper rolled through a mass of people to get closer to the Conductor. "Sir, with all due respect… this isn't a task you can do alone."

Sho didn't need to hear it from her, "I've checked my math, the formula is set. You need not be a part of my desired solution. I have carefully calculated every move."

Kotori wasn't convinced, "But surely if you had the help of other reapers… you could surely do the task before you with haste."

Sho had enough, "The Composer doesn't truly want that yoctogram of a girl removed. The Composer would be assisting me personally if it were about erasing Hanekoma. But… I have another assignment and there's no way to factor you into my equation."

The Conductor left the woman behind. She stood silent in thought, "So… he doesn't trust me… or anyone… How does one go about gaining trust."

XXXX

Weiss bent over on one knee curious and stirred. "Joshua met the Conductor here… the conductor sent two reapers against Neku and…"

Thanatos looked at the area, "There is no way you're able to tell any of this. The Underground doesn't exactly leave signs you can observe."

Weiss went on observing the area. "Sho had been charging up the lvl _i_ flare… He attempted to use it on Hanekoma but failed… Charon summoned a fallen noise to prevent it. Joshua headed northward… and that's where the Conductor went as well. He wasn't using the real lvl _I_ flare. He made a new technique that can focus it and end it before doing too much damage."

Thanatos scoffed, "Is that some special attack capable of erasing a Composer? You said something about it before."

Weiss nodded, "Yes… no doubt he wants to transfer his power without dying… Or worse… being erased. If he is erased, he will not decide the candidate. Joshua has caused too much suffering to decide something like that."

Thanatos surmised, "If this attack is in the possession of the Conductor… why did he not use it on the Composer. It seems like a simple task to me. Sho wanted his spot didn't he?"

Weiss thought of that, "From Neku's book… Sho used the flare on Joshua at Pork City… but Joshua used some sort of dimension rift to avoid it. Joshua more or less teleported to another place to avoid it. A place not even Joshua could escape from alone. The last time Hanekoma had to pick him up. This time… he won't be able to do that. He'll be removed from this dimension if he tried it again."

Thanatos found this whole thing ridiculous. "Killing the Composer may be nigh impossible. But still… there's something about you…"

Weiss found it interesting, "What do you have to lose?"

Thanatos shrugged, "I'll tell you in the morning. For now let's cover some ground, the tournament is going to end soon. What I want in return for your help I'll tell you another day."

Weiss guessed as much. "Alright… we'll track Sho Minamimoto. He is the one who knows the Composer's location among other things." From what he could see the Conductor moved quickly, quicker than they could track him. No doubt it would be a long while before they actually managed to find him.

XXXX

Nanami was not only winning, she looked like a champion in the process. Hanekoma spoke to Neku, "I'm surprised this is going so well."

Neku agreed, "Yeah, usually with people I know… something goes horribly wrong right about now."

Shiki and Hanekoma gave him a look of death. Shiki shut both eyes in annoyance as a scream went off a ways down, "You just jinxed it…"

Neku rolled his eyes, "I didn't jinx it… I made an accurate prediction. Let's see what happened."

Nanami had to focus on the game with no distractions. The person in front of her was a player as well, "Looks like you almost had me there.."

The other player agreed, "Yeah… I suck at this game now. I remembered being a lot better."

Nanami wished she could explain that she was actually cheating, but that would defeat the purpose of cheating. No one could know what she was doing. It was a shame though, leaving things to chance often led to random results. Random results often led to problems and she didn't like problems. Nanami would do what she had to do, take decisive victories where she could. "I win!"

The other player bowed in defeat, "You beat me bad, you're amazing at this game!" The boy said as he put down his entry pin. "I lost fair and square." Nanami felt a small, cold sweat droplet run down her face. "I wish I could give you a rematch but I have to go."

She said about to run off, but before she did. "Ahh!"

The player vanished into the Underground to face off against noise. Nanami's eyes widened as she pulled out her notebook to help the poor guy. She lashed as best she could before seeing the boy barely survive. She didn't get it, "How can noise get us in here? We're not outside... Where are they?" Then it dawned on her. To get into the game each player had an entry pin. That entry pin released noise upon a player losing. Living people would be unaffected, but players would vanish after losing.

"This… is… not… good." Hanekoma said.

The player made it out alive, but Nanami had to ask Hanekoma about this. The reapers put noise in the pins. There was no telling how many players could be caught off guard. "Every time I win someone is in danger." She won quickly, but she had to tell everyone. Before she could her phone vibrated.

_PS: If you lose a tin pin match, you face the noise. Good luck. ____**–**_**_The Reapers_**

Kariya grinned as his plan was working. Just about every player entered the tin pin matches. "Think we're gonna get a lot of players like this."

Uzuki let out a squeal of glee, "So… Many… POINTS!" It was going to be a huge success on their end. Some players had even split up from their partners. Most players were completely helpless against the Noise. Not only this, the tournament ranking system would make players play several matches. Eventually the majority of them would lose a match. Out of that majority, how many of them could fight the noise alone? Kariya was impressed with himself, the mission was fair, but tricky.

"Honestly… I'm surprised this worked this well… I thought less players would take the bait."

Uzuki corrected him, "They have to take the bait, it's their mission. They're gonna try to get the diamond pin and they're gonna face noise in the process."

Kariya elaborated, "Usually… it's in poor taste to separate players from their partners forcefully… but if they willingly leave their partner… what blame do I have for fighting noise alone?"

Uzuki answered that for him, "None! You're better than Okami! You were made for this!"

The orange haired reaper shrugged and twirled his lollipop, "Well… This won't get all of them… but yeah… I think I am trying to beat Okami. He works too hard… I prefer to let players erase themselves."

Uzuki felt great, "With my hard work and your brains… the players won't stand a chance!"

Usually there weren't any catches or mishaps in the first two missions. Okami's erasure rate was higher than just about any reaper you could name. Kariya already seemed to be topping in terms of that, but of course when he was doing well nobody cared. The Conductor had a special assignment, Okami was out of commission, Kotori was busy spying on the Conductor and the Composer was going to excessive lengths to make sure that he be killed in the fashion he desired. Kariya didn't see the point in playing fair this week. This was a lazy way to get the job done. Just his style.

Uzuki was happy. This wasn't exactly the boost her carrier needed, but then again, "The matches are progressing perfectly. Do you think we'll manage to get most of the players?"

Kariya looked at his phone and thought about it, "We're at about 40% of the players. Although I doubt we'll get too many more today. The more you erase, the harder it is to erase them… so… I think we might get a little under 40%... Probably that."

Uzuki thought that got too little. "Wouldn't this get most of them?" Kariya shook his head, "Players are more clever than they used to be. And they've got experienced players helping them. So expect some setbacks."

Nanami had won herself yet another match. Luckily it wasn't a player. The moment she won she ran to the side of some other players she knew. When one lost she did her best to help them defeat the noise and she wasn't the only one catching on. Every player at this point was helping every other player. Sometimes three or more fought the same noise. Under desperation people organize and just about every player was watching every other player.

Hanekoma had a slightly different way of passing the time. He was busy examining the diamond pin, "There's something strange about this…" He never actually touched it, but he noticed something odd. Like every entry pin for the tournament, there was something up about that pin they gave the winner. "Uh oh… they didn't." They did. Hanekoma checked again, "That's a hell of a noise…" It really was. "The reapers put an extremely powerful noise in the diamond pin… If anyone touches it…" If anyone touched it they would probably face a swift erasure. On the plus side they knew it was coming.

Nanami and the other players were getting by the mission easy enough. It was only a matter of time before the tournament was over. There was only one problem, one contestant was beating everyone without a hitch. At first she didn't recognize him, but then a poster of him made it all too clear who it was, "Tin Pin champion of the world… It's Shooter!"

"He's the leader of the Tin Pin gods!"

"He's mastered all elements of the game, he'll win for sure."

He was here today and he was probably going to win. This didn't bother her, except that every player he beat had to face noise and he managed to erase a few players already. Much to her chagrin, she checked the listings and apparently she was playing him next, "Uh oh…" What made things worse is that Hanekoma and most other players weren't nearby. Nanami stopped to think, what was the likely hood of her winning? "Whoa! You're a first timer! You're doing great for a freshy!" Said the approaching champion.

She thought she'd have more time before he played her. "You're done already?"

Shooter beat his last opponent in under a minute, "Yeah! A lot of people are off their game today, but not me! My tin pin launcher had a bug earlier, but luckily I keep a spare!" A spare? Those things were like 20,000 yen! Who keeps spares?!

Joshua claimed to have sabotaged the notable tin pin players, but it sounded like the boy before her used a spare to avoid this. "You're number two right now! Whoa! For a first timer you must be good! I'll play you soon!" T

here was little doubt in Nanami's mind, "I'm doomed."

The time had passed pretty fast at first. Nanami had been playing by herself mostly and she had to guess that Hanekoma was busy with something. In reality he just had no idea where she was. He at that moment was asking around if anyone saw her. Hanekoma paused to see that Nanami was facing against the tin pin champion. "Oh… boy… this isn't good. Oh… On second thought… if she gets second place she won't have to fight against a powerful noise." This worked out fine after all, all she had to do was lose and Nanami was going to lose.

Hanekoma had given her pins which he imprinted to make other players play worse, but on someone as spirited as Shooter, it would fail entirely. The guy didn't look very smart, but in terms of spirit, anyone could tell he had an exceptional amount of it. It was that exceptional spirit which would make him immune to Hanekoma's pin. Nanami was going to have to fight some Noise. Luckily if things turned sour he could help her and a gut instinct said things would turn sour. It didn't matter though, as long as the diamond pin didn't touch a player they'd be home free. She'd be facing him in the finals one way or another.

Shooter dropped his pin and shouted, "SLAM! ON!" The crowd cheered for him. He tightened his headband and they just went wild. This guy belongs in a Shonen manga.

Nanami rolled her eyes and dropped her pin. To no one's surprise Shooter knocked her first pin off and only had five to go. She dropped a second pin and Shooter knocked that pin off before she could even move it. It was abundantly clear she was going to lose. The girl asked a question, "Can I just forfeit?"

The judge responded, "Yes…"

Sadly, no one heard the judge over Shooter shouting, "No! Never quit!"

He knocked yet another pin off. Nanami blinked a few times as she dropped another pin, "I think the judge said I could leave…"

Shooter denied this, "Slammed!"

He knocked yet another pin off. Nanami folded both arms and wanted to walk away. "Listen up! You may think you've lost… but you haven't yet! You're losing because you're not feeling the passion for the game. You may have pins and strategy, but without spirit… you'll never succeed at anything."

For some reason this awed the crowd and for an even stranger reason, Nanami. The girl turned around with fire in her eyes and steam rising from her head, "You want spirit? I've been thrown around for 1 week and two days doing stuff I don't wanna do! I have no idea who may friends are, I have no idea what I stand for and I don't need YOU telling ME what I need to succeed!" She knocked his pin out of the ring to leave the audience baffled.

It was a real match shortly after, "Whoa! You got fire in your eyes! So this is your true power! SLAM ON!"

Nanami got even more irritated, "Power? This is tin pin! It's all about how well you can knock pins out of the ring!" Nanami and Shooter's pins collided a few times.

Hanekoma's eyes crossed, "Well… suddenly she's good at this game…" Nanami slowly but surely knocked out another of Shooter's pins. He had plenty more, "I'll not be beaten by you! My will to win exceeds the desire to live!"

Shooter tried to be dramatic, but Neku killed it. "Nanami… hurry up and lose… I'll die from an aneurism if this continues."

Shooter turned his head completely drawing his attention away from the game, "Whoa! The tin pin prez! May I shake your hand?" Little did he notice Nanami knocked one of his pins out of the ring. "Oh! No more distractions! Now you face Shuto Dan! Tin pin champion of the world!"

From that moment forward he completely and utterly destroyed Nanami's short winning streak. Nanami stopped trying very hard after Neku, she more or less wanted to lose.

Shooter won with a decisive victory and leap in the air. Be it his personal aura or just that Neku was having a seizure, Neku saw Shooter with flashing lights behind him like one might see in a children's show. Shiki promptly caught Neku before he hit the floor, "Are you alright?"

Neku couldn't respond due to the foam in his mouth. He saw a bright array of colors. If he could he would have blamed it all on a tin pin overload. Neku hated that game more than any fan could love the game. It was time for Shooter to collect his prize. Nanami felt a little relieved that she wouldn't have to touch the diamond pin. As she checked her hand the mission was clear. "Whew… mission complete."

Hanekoma exhaled a breath of relaxation, "Alright… now all we need to do now is just leave and call it a day. You made it, Nanami."

She smiled weakly and wanted to apologize, "I'm sorry for earlier. It was really great you helped out today… and the day before. Whatever Joshua's doing... I know I can trust you."

Hanekoma didn't need an apology, "Well Joshua and I go way back, but… we don't see eye to eye on this. He wants to save Shibuya in his own way… but it's not my way. The world ends with you, don't forget that. It's your own decisions and your own choices that make your world what it is."

Nanami smiled, "Yeah, you're right. I'm glad we were able to work together."

Now as Hanekoma and Nanami made it outside they both were surprised to see Shooter waiting for them, "Whoa! That was a fun match! As a memento to our battle I want you to hold to embrace the symbol of our battle!"

He held in his hand the diamond pin and he managed to force it into her hand. Nanami and Hanekoma stood stunned for a moment as a gigantic noise appeared. "I want you to keep it! You embraced the Tin Pin spirit and teaching someone to love Tin Pin is better than any trophy!" He smiled and didn't seem to notice that she started panicking. Not from the fact he just did something super cool, but because he couldn't see the GIANT ASS Noise she saw.

Shooter made a shooting gesture with his hands as a trademark and left all cool like.

Upon his leaving Hanekoma and Nanami had to fight what may have been the largest porcupine noise ever seen.

Hanekoma sighed, "I'll take care of it."

Oh well, it's not like it could beat Hanekoma anyway...

XXXX

The day was over and the sunset was gorgeous. It was a perfect view from the building top that Kariya chose. The mission ended much to Uzuki's discontent. "No way… we could have got a lot more players than that. I wanted to see the big noise fight."

Kariya sighed, "Yeah… it's a shame a player didn't touch it, but then… I did give the warning."

Uzuki shook her head, "I guess the mission still went pretty well, we got five more days after all. I mean… we still got plenty of time to deal with the other players."

Kariya agreed and sat calmly on a chair. He let his lollipop gradually melt in his mouth as he said, "This is the life, getting points… and being lazy while doing it." He leaned his head back to see Kotori staring down at him with both arms crossed. Most people would have jolted, but Kariya just let out a defeated sigh, "Oh? Back already?"

Kotori rolled on her skates to the edge of building, stopping narrowly. She leaned her body over the edge with both hands behind her back as she observed what was happening below. "It seems that noise was summoned after all…"

Uzuki's head spun, "Wait, what? What kind of idiot would touch it after the mission?"

Kotori blinked a few times as her eyes narrowed. She saw in full force what she was up against. The noise was strong, yet powerless. Hanekoma's true form was beyond human power. He defeated it without effort and not only did he defeat it, there was no sign of a struggle at all. He wasn't tired nor did a speck of dirt land on his shirt. Kotori turned to ask a favor, "Kariya… I need your help. If you're willing I'd like to make a change to tomorrow's mission. There might be a way to turn his power to our advantage."

XXXX

Okami growled in pain, "This beaten dog… still has… teeth."

He was hit with a powerful seal. Charon's attack really left a number on him. "That power… those eyes.. the scent of blood. That man was a killer. No… not a man… What was he?..."

Okami was perplexed as his reaper power slowly returned to him. Whatever had hit him had knocked him out and sealed his power for the last hour. "This pain… will make me strong. I'll not let it be dulled, I'll let it be a reminder… that there are men who hunt wolves. There are no pacts between men and wolves. This man has the eyes of a beast which I long for. This man has power I seek, I must learn how he gained his strength. I must become stronger, strong enough to destroy the Composer and one day this city! Let it all become hell!"

The Reaper ran sniffing at the ground. He tracked new prey, "I'll find you… Charon.

Okami had been following the demon for some time. Okami could smell the air he was close enough. "Where are you? Come out! I'll sniff you out! I'll find you…"

Charon's voice echoed, "And when you find me, what will you do?"

Okami turned around unable to see him, "When I find you… I'll learn the truth! I'll taste true power!"

Charon appeared as Okami turned his head, "When you find me? You'll learn the truth? Is it truth that gives power? What mad delusion do you face, Reaper?"

Okami fell to one knee, "Tell me… how to become strong… tell me how to defeat the Composer…"

Charon didn't have time for this, "You are nothing, move along." As he said the words 'move along', a powerful imprint capable of breaking all will entered Okami's mind. It was strong indeed, what memories of Charon he had began their mass exodus. But still he stood, the imprint did not make him leave, "Tell me… how to become strong."

No human should have been able to resist that imprint. It was angel made and borderline mind control. Yet...

For better or worse Charon's interest was rekindled, "You wish to destroy this city?... Yet with or without you the Composer will die and the Noise will destroy this city. They do not require your aid to evoke destruction."

Okami didn't care, "I want my revenge… I want to hurt Joshua… I want this city to die… Give me the tools to end salvation!"

Charon gave thought to this madman's plea. After a moment he reached for his phone and lightly tapped the buttons on his phone. The reply was instantaneous. He got a text message back from his boss. With a flash of the screen Charon's glasses reflected the reply, _Tell him what he wants to know._The demon neatly placed the phone in his suit jacket and asked one more thing, "Are you prepared to make a deal with the devil?"

- End Day 2

(Author's notes: I'm sorry this one took longer and yes as usual... I intend to edit it later. But please don't hesitate to comment. Every time I see a comment I do about 2k+ words not long after I see it. Comments keep me going and thank you all for reading.

[Yes that Author's note is old, but it's still true.]

The unedited chapters were when I was fairly new to fanfiction and didn't know a lot of grammar or cultural rules that go with it. Even so, I find some fondness reading the old chapters. They desperately needed work.

Well this day was funny I hope. I did the basic editing to make it flow with the rest of the story. I intend to do future chapters in the coming days. So if you don't want to read the mangled up mess that is in fact the next chapter... just wait a little while. I'll get to it. The story gets better and better over time. I have many readers who can attest that the story can get you emotionally involved.

As said before I will probably be working on a new fanfiction. Maybe a Naruto story when everyone is grown up and the Kages are starting to go missing. Or Gurren Lagann where Lord Genome didn't take over the world? Either of those sound better?

If you have any further thoughts please don't hesitate to comment. PM me any errors you see and I will do my very best to fix them. I'm sure there's stuff I missed. 0er0 out.)


	10. Week Two, Day Three: Why move on?

(At your request another chapter. For your reading pleasure. I've done some butchering with the editing knife and will be moving on to the new chapters in the coming days.)

Week 2 Day 3: Why move on?

It wasn't easy waking up every day with no idea where you were. For the players in the reaper's game, it happened every day. Although today was special, no one had any idea what they were doing in a school uniform. By the looks of it, it was a fairly large high school, but it wasn't the largest one could imagine.

"This place could do with some redecorating." Thanatos said as he got up.

It didn't bother him that he had no idea where he was, but then again, who did? One earned recognition for making Thanatos raise an eyebrow when he woke up. One deserved a medal for managing to get Weiss to act surprised.

He looked around "At least the reapers could have pretended not to just drop us at the doorsteps. Perhaps a little variety on where the players were dropped?" From what he could tell everyone playing the game was dropped together in front of what looked like an ordinary highschool.

From what he could see most of the players were at the front door, even Nanami and Hanekoma made it.

Something was odd and Thanatos was the first to point out, "What the hell are we doing in school uniforms?"

It was fairly obvious that everyone was wearing them, but Weiss seemed to be busy noticing other things, "The reapers are trying to keep us off Sho's tail. The mission was changed by the looks of things. A lot of this was thrown together at the last minute. Joshua might have asked the Game Master to stall us."

The time was early morning the sun was rising and the mission mail came not long after. They were at a school every single player, young an old.

_Stay in school, kids. Classes end at 3.__ –_**The Reapers**

Nanami woke up with a start and noted the first thing that came to mind, "Why the hell am I wearing a school uniform?" It was like some cosmic force was controlling her life and ensured that she played dress up as much as possible. Granted that she didn't mind a change of clothes, but a school uniform seemed more like some guy's (possibly a fanfic author's) fetish than something she'd actually wear.

"I hate it when reapers do things like this to me. I spent enough time in school." Now what made her more uncomfortable was when Hanekoma got up also in a school uniform. A grown ass man in a school uniform.

He scratched his head and wondered, "Why… the hell… are we wearing school uniforms?" He looked around and it seemed every player was wearing one, even him. "I think I'm a little old to be wearing this."

Nanami agreed, "You're not the only one who thinks that."

There were all sorts there, quite a few that didn't belong in highschool at all. Yet there they were uniforms and all. What was the gig here?

Now normally Nanami might be happy to see Weiss alive and well, but then she remembered he might take this opportunity to comment on her most recent outfit, "I don't know, it looks quite nice on you. Although… that skirt is awfully short."

He HAD to point out that last detail? In all honesty it wasn't really that bad, but it definitely wasn't a skirt at suggested length. "You wouldn't happen to be keeping that uniform to wear later, would you?" Weiss asked.

The girl let out an annoyed huff and thought of hurting him. But it wasn't exactly him who put her in this outfit. How did the Reapers pull this off? This was more than just a Reaper could manage. Did Joshua do it? Joshua was the Composer, he might have the power to pull this sort of thing out.

Hanekoma asked, "So, what are you planning to do?"

Weiss cocked his head and eyed the building while speaking, "Well… we were hoping to catch the Conductor… but… it looks like we got brought here instead. Although the scenery is nice, Nanami you should wear that more often; it suits you." N

anami's eyes crossed with annoyance, "Anyway… the mission is to 'stay in school'. From the sound of the mission text… we need to attend classes for exactly one day."

Hanekoma asked Weiss one more question, "You notice anything, at all?"

Weiss nodded, "Rush job mission… they changed their plans at the last minute. Probably because noise aren't a threat to you. So they're using other tactics… they can still erase us with technicalities. So they're going to try to make us fail missions to kill you."

Thanatos wasn't happy in his school uniform, "I'm going to take this off. I'd rather walk around in my boxers than wear this shit." That's when a teacher stopped him from taking off his shirt.

"No way bucko, uniforms are mandatory." It was a coach for the school, "PE is in 13 minutes, get to class all of you!" This guy was brainwashed or something. These guys clearly didn't belong in a public school. This was set up by Reapers and the Composer. This was definitely a stall tactic.

Some players took the queue. Some didn't, like Hanekoma. "Hold it! You're definitely not a student." The coach stopped him from entering the building, "And neither are you, you're both not students here! That's for sure." It was just a theory, but Weiss guessed that this was Joshua's doing. It seemed likely. Joshua must have brainwashed a number of people or coerced a few folks. Hanekoma if anyone else would be the first target for the Reapers. They must have gotten the staff to throw out Hanekoma first. They were ignoring other players that didn't belong and school and yet this guy was calling out Hanekoma. They must be trying to remove him from the Reaper's game.

It would take some sort of a distraction to get him in the building. Weiss happened to have one, "Excuse me."

The coach turned and answered with an annoyed, "What?"

Weiss asked him, "Tell me, if do you find some of your students sexually attractive?"

The coach answered with an abrupt, "Yes." Then the grown man covered his mouth in shock.

Weiss went on, "Tell me, have you had sexual relations with any of your students?"

The coach answered without thought, "Yes… What the hell?"

Weiss seemed worried, "Oh dear… should tell someone about this?" Weiss began to exit and the coach followed him, desperately pleading for him not to tell the school board. The distraction was enough to get Hanekoma and Nanami in.

"Did you just see that?" Nanami questioned.

Hanekoma tried not to make a big deal about it. "Don't ask. Just go."

"So… how did you get him to confess to that?" Thanatos was curious about what Weiss just did. That was like a super power or something.

The white haired schoolboy responded, "Oh? Well it's based on an average in Japan. Most coaches have sexual relations with students in Japan, they just don't admit it. There's nothing too surprising about that."

Thanatos wasn't convinced, "But how'd you get him to confess in front of a crowd? That's surprising to me."

Weiss didn't answer his question, "Honestly… I'm not sure… Did he say anything? I don't remember it well."

Thanatos became understandably irritated, "Do you really not know what you just did? Did you use some sort of an imprint on him?"

Weiss guessed, "What did I say to him before? Anything that might have something to do with it?" He didn't sound sarcastic.

Thanatos reminded him, "You said 'tell me' and then asked a question."

Weiss thought about that, "I don't remember saying tell me. Are you sure I said that? Not some variant on words? What was the result of what I asked?"

Thanatos was confused now, did he really forget in the last nine seconds? The more time went by the more he seemed to forget. "You did it to help Hanekoma. You distracted the coach by getting him to confess… things."

Weiss shook his head, "I don't remember that. In fact now that you mention it, I can't remember that whole conversation. I'll need to look into it. Let's focus on the mission." Weiss didn't care anymore. He kept walking until he found an empty classroom.

Thanatos didn't get it. This didn't make sense. Did he really forget or was he being a smartass? This was bullshit, "You don't even care that you don't know, do you?"

It was true, "I really don't. Shall we continue?" Weiss gave that smile of his. He was screwed up in the head. He genuinely just forgot what he just did.

It was time to find whatever reapers were hiding in the school, Hanakoma and Nanami began their search, "Do you think we can find the reapers? Any ways of how to find out who they are? They're the ones who can get rid of us."

It was a fair question and Hanekoma had a fair answer, "I should be able to cook up something to detect the reapers… give me your phone."

She showed her phone to him and he began to tamper with it. Opened it up and started messing with the inner workings of it. He used funny tools in his pocket. "Every moment in time… leaves a fingerprint… with a simple device like a camera… one can look into the past. Every photograph is a window of time… in short."

Hanakoma pointed a phone at a classroom and took a picture, "Look for the odd one out."

On his phone camera it showed a picture of a classroom full of students and teacher. Everyone who was there yesterday was in the classroom that day. That camera was showing off a picture of the past. The first picture showed who belonged and who didn't. It was the first of many. "Everyone accounted for. We'll take a picture of the classrooms and look for any extras in here today. Someone here doesn't belong. The Reapers will do their best to get us thrown out of the school. And once again if the mission objective is any indication..."

Nanami was impressed, "Taking pictures of the past?... Interesting concept… I didn't know you could do that."

Hanekoma chuckled as recalled helping Neku and Joshua with the same trick. "Well… Observation isn't my specialty. But this should help. The other way to find a reaper is to find someone we can't scan. Remember, we can scan Noise and living people but not players and reapers. The camera should be a second layer of evidence."

It seemed like a logical plan, "Should we split up?"

Nanami had a point. If they split up they could cover more ground, on the other hand, "No, I think if we stay together we'd be safer if any Noise or reapers tried anything funny. Besides there's plenty of other players with methods of scanning. Covering ground shouldn't be priority. Just stay safe and play along."

Nanami asked one more question, "How are normal teachers going to see us?"

Hanekoma pointed to the wall, "There's reaper symbols that allow normal humans to see Players. Normally they're in shops."

Nanami wondered, "Should we take them out?"

Hanekoma nodded, "Stay hidden, blend in. I'll take care of it."

XXXXX

It didn't take long for Weiss and Thanatos to get good at avoiding every teacher or hall monitor they came across. Hiding was an easy task when you considered everything else they've been through. The school for the moment wasn't really trying to throw out people that didn't belong. But there was still the usual security at any school. Hall monitors and the like. Today it was different though.

The Composer himself must have set this up. It's not like Weiss could hunt him down until the mission was over. The Composer could easily manipulate a memory or two or rework the game rules as he saw fit. Here was the scoop. If you happened to be spotted by a hall monitor or teacher. If a player were spotted by a hall monitor or teacher then it resulted in the player vanishing. If you were spotted you were teleported outside, where you had to fight Noise until erasure. Students and teachers for the most part weren't looking for people right now. You could sit down in class and no one would question why you were there for the most part. It's like the school was under a spell. The hall monitors weren't. They were finding people left and right. The best one could do was stay out of sight.

What's worse was there were some Reapers hanging around the school pretending to be staff. If they caught you, they could do the same thing.

Weiss commented happily. "Odds are… this is one of those missions that could erase people via technicalities. Even Hanekoma is in danger. It'll be hard for him today. Actually… for the rest of us this mission is the most straight forward one we've had so far."

Thanatos was quietly brooding, "Nothing's straight forward in this game."

Weiss couldn't agree more, but there was the issue of the coming hall monitor. If a hall monitor found them, they'd surely get the boot. Thanatos looked around, but got yanked into an empty classroom before he ran off. Weiss seemed to be more of a hider than a runner.

After being pulled into a classroom, Thanatos had one simple question, "Why did you pull me in here, exactly?"

It was because Weiss had an idea, "I'm taking a hall pass from this empty classroom. We'll need a teacher's name… and… Ah here!"

He picked up a note which was to be given to a sub upon entering. It was lying on the desk. "Today's date… on the hall pass slip… and… we'll use an absent teacher for now. Odds are that we could find some use for a pass like this."

Thanatos added, "You think that would work? I guess if we're spotted and they think we're students, we could hide a little longer. If we had a hall pass it might give us a chance to explain ourselves. Or at least we could lie and say we're doing an errand for the missing teacher."

Weiss seemed pleased by that comment, "Not bad, you're a natural at lying."

It was at that moment Thanatos finally snapped. It had been bugging him for a while. He had to know at this point. Thanatos forced himself to ask as nicely as possible, "What the hell is wrong with you? What's your problem? And for the love of my own ass, what the hell are you?" It made sense that he'd want to know. After all Weiss was his partner and quite a bit depended on them being in sync.

Weiss at first tried to evade the question entirely, "I'm glad the hall monitor didn't hear that."

Thanatos wasn't going to change the subject, "Do you think I'm stupid? Don't change the subject."

Weiss exhaled and asked politely, "Can this wait for another time?"

The answer was written all over Thanatos' face.

Weiss conceded defeat, "I guess not…" He guessed right. The white haired schoolboy grabbed a seat, "No time like the present… This room should do nicely for now. Grab a book and listen well. I'll tell you my story, but in exchange you'll have to tell me yours."

Thanatos knew full well who needed to go first, "You're telling your story first, but it's a deal." If either of them got caught they'd just as well play it up as if they were two students studying for something in the wrong room. Suspicious, but at least they could say they got sent out of their original class due to a test they couldn't take or something.

Weiss would need to be the first to tell his story and most of it was a repeat of what he told Nanami. "Well, I've been in Shibuya for six years. Three of the years I told Nanami about and mostly it's just me being in a school much like this. Being a student. For the last three years I've been in Shibuya, I've been moving from place to place. Be it a school… landmark or hotel I moved around the place. I felt a constant need to learn about this city that I've arrived to. Before you ask, I stayed at a prepaid hotel room on reservation. I didn't spend much time there other than to sleep or use the rest facilities. Every day I left the hotel I either attended school or went to a new area. Every three months or so I'd switch schools. It was a shame, but three months is about all you needed to get the general idea on how the school was. It's there I learned a lot about the people of this world. How each of them is unique and at the same time… a part of an amalgam of the masses. People communicate… people feel… people ask questions for the sake of asking them."

Thanatos had to comment, "People ask, 'why?' we're the only animal that does. As for your ideas on humans, I don't care. Tell me what you were doing in Shibuya. Right now it's sounding like you were studying our educational system and getting the city landscape. Someone paid for you to come here… someone loaded."

Weiss agreed, "Very well. What I did next was search through shops, libraries or anything that might have information on what I wanted to know. I was looking for something. I was trying to figure something out, the Reaper's Game. This game was something I could see when I first arrived, I could see it as clearly as I see the rest of the world around us. I saw players, reapers and even noise. I wanted to find out everything about them. Neku wrote a book, a work of fiction about the Reaper's Game. It was Neku's book that gave me the answer. I read it and from reading it, I learned all about the rules of this game. I was intrigued by the work of fiction, it matched my current situation. It matched everything I understood. Perhaps he made it as a hint of sorts for those living. But I didn't find what I was looking for, not yet."

"People were always sending imprints to one another, receiving, sending or creating imprints through actions. Why was it I could see them and they could not? The question stuck, that's something Neku's story couldn't answer. Perhaps it's one of those questions that we ask that will never be answered. I had to learn the truth, it was an impulse."

Thanatos had to throw in another comment, "So you could see noise… players… imprints… reapers… Could you do this before you came to Shibuya?"

Weiss confessed, "I have no recollection of what transpired before six years ago. My memory was completely blank, I didn't even have a name for myself. I still understood language and my mental capacity was still functional, but memories are driving force of human personality. I had nothing, not even a name. In my pocket was a card with the name of the hotel and room number. When I arrived at the hotel the clerk said I was expected. They said I called before I came. I don't remember calling. They also said that they printed out a map to catstreet as requested. I could found the café later. Hanekoma didn't know me, but he was very welcoming. When I asked what name I put myself under at the hotel, there was no name. The reservation was under Weiss. It was the only thing I could use that had any identity to myself."

Thanatos offered suggestions, "You could have experienced a traumatic event which may have affected your memory. But… That seems unlikely. You didn't wake up in a hospital and it sounds like you were planning to come to Shibuya. If you had any family or friends, they could find out what hotel you reserved or gone looking for you. Since no one was looking for you and you had a long term reservation at the hotel… that would mean you were intending to stay here long term. What's the first thing you remember?"

Weiss thought as best he could, "I quite clearly remember opening my eyes and I was on a bench. The bus just left. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the noise symbol in the sky."

Thanatos heard what he needed to hear, "Your memory was tampered with. Based on what you told me, you came here with a blank memory on purpose. You had a hotel already prepaid for and you needed to go to the catstreet café. That's the one where Hanekoma is from right?"

Weiss agreed to that, "Hanekoma helped me out a lot. He suggested Neku's book, he gave me a copy. He answered every question I needed. I came to that shop every day, I don't know why. Maybe it's because Hanekoma seemed to have answers? But every day in the morning I went there for coffee. We'd have idle conversation, it was nice."

Thanatos was getting closer to what he wanted to hear, "So you still experience times where your memory is blank… You told that coach 'tell me'… And he impulsively answered whatever question you asked. Based on what I know about imprints… you used one back there… If you can see imprints then by that logic I assume you'd be able to use them yourself."

Weiss countered, "There's a problem with that, I can't seem to use imprints and I don't recall ever using one. You said I used on the coach, but why should I believe you? I don't have any proof I did such a thing."

Thanatos paused and thought, "So… You don't remember using imprints… you don't remember why you came here… You don't remember where you're from… which means by that logic you couldn't tell anyone even if someone tried to force you. Even someone like Joshua couldn't read something that wasn't there."

Weiss wondered, "What are you getting at?"

Thanatos asked him dead on, "How did you die and enter this game?"

Weiss briefly told him, "I don't remember-"

Thanatos asked another question, "Do you find yourself acting wildly differently at some points."

Weiss answered honestly, "I'd say I'm pretty stable."

Thanatos wasn't buying it, "What about when you heard Hanekoma was entering the game, how did you know that'd he be erased?"

Weiss paused for a moment, "I don't… I didn't know that…"

Thanatos got to the point, "You acted a lot different then. Here again you acted a lot differently when you used an imprint on that coach."

Weiss stood up as if he were having a panic attack. His face fidgeted a little. "No I couldn't have-"

Thanatos saw that Weiss was figuring it out too, "What do you call it when someone can't remember certain moments in time when they were acting completely different? What does it mean when someone is acting like a different person and doesn't recall anything that personality did?"

Weiss frowned swallowed, "Dissociative identity disorder… or more commonly called multiple personality disorder."

Thanatos seemed satisfied, "You had it the whole time… remembering bits and pieces."

Weiss closed both eyes for a moment as if collecting his thoughts, "That may very well be true. But it doesn't prove it at this point… there are a number of things that cause natural memory fading. Tell me, do you think I'm crazy?" He said 'tell me' just then. Maybe he was testing to see if he could imprint Thanatos.

Thanatos smiled a moment and kept silent, "Looks like you can't use that imprint now… One more thing… what do you remember doing before you entered the game for the first time?" He didn't answer. That was a point to note. Every time Weiss said 'tell me' to someone. It was like they impulsively had to answer. It was a hell of a strong imprint.

Weiss thought and tried his best to remember, "I went to pork city… I was riding an elevator to investigate the top… I don't remember what happened when I reached the top of the elevator."

Thanatos nodded and smiled, "Your alternate persona got you killed. That's what I think."

Weiss protested, "You don't even have any proof that's true, just because I have memory loss doesn't mean I have another personality."

Thanatos shrugged, "Whatever, you can think what you want. I'll think what I want."

Weiss seemed satisfied, "Very well. Still… it is unnerving considering the evidence. I believe it's your turn to tell me about yourself."

Thanatos nodded, "Yeah, I'll keep my end of the bargain. With any luck the mission will be over before I finish."

XXXXX

It didn't take long before Hanekoma and Nanami came across a divine revelation. "I have no idea where the Reapers are…"

Hanekoma sighed, "If only we weren't hiding we could just ask if any substitutes came along. The Reapers are most likely under the guise of a teacher."

Nanami agreed with that, "I wish we could just ask somebody…"

Her train of thought came to an end, "Whoa! It's you!"

Shuto or shooter, tin pin champion of the world, was right behind them.

"Huh?..." Nanami turned to see him and the blank expression on her face was priceless. "Oh uh… hello."

Shooter began his borderline shouting, "I had no idea you were a student here! Whoa! You transferred to the school when you wanted a rematch! That's like an anime!"

She was about to protest when she was yanked into following Shooter, "This is great! You can join the school tin pin team!"

Nanami whimpered, "There's a tin pin team?"

Shooter seemed offended, "You didn't know? I'm the captain of the school's tin pin team! I'll introduce you to everyone!"

Hanekoma quickly found himself separated from Nanami. He waved a nervous goodbye when he turned to the principal's office. "Sorry Nanami, need to conduct my own little search."

He started by looking over the walls and ceiling. He saw a lot more than normal players did. "The reaper's seal." It was the seal which allowed the living to see the underground players. If he managed to disable these seals, he'd never be found. At least not by ordinary humans. After he disabled the seals the only people able to see him would be Reapers or that was the theory. Disabling seals was something ordinary players could do. Hanekoma was far from ordinary. He could detect and disable the seals with impressive speed.

He knew what the consequence of getting thrown out of this school was, "Noise… if we fail to do the mission we'll most likely be erased. We stay in school until time is up. After that we find our Reapers." He perfected a mental imprint to disable the reapers seal, now no one could see him.

A voice spoke after the seal was destroyed, "And what would you do if you found a Reaper? A Reaper could have you thrown out of the school. Although erasing you by normal means is difficult, technicality remains just as lethal to you as any player. " He turned to see Kotori in a teacher's outfit. Of course she threw in glasses for no reason other than a classic look, "I've come to speak with you, I'm the reaper. I was hoping to speak with you about the current situation Shibuya's in."

Hanekoma turned and smiled, "Well I'm happy to hear you're not here to throw me out then. You wouldn't try to kill me in some other way, would you?"

Kotori confessed, "With my resources… I'd say that's impossible. You've helped me once before if you remember. I have no intention of doing you harm."

Hanekoma remembered her quite clearly. It was many years ago. "I'm glad you're still safe. How are you holding out?"

Kotori didn't answer that, she cut to business. "The conductor stole something from your shop, it was a seal. Something pertaining to noise… Why did he take it?"

Hanekoma raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "Probably Joshua trying to save the city from the Noise. If they think that seal will work…"

Kotori wanted to hear this now. She wanted to hear this more than the task at hand, "The city? This city is in danger? And why does Joshua hunt you now? Please make sense of it."

Hanekoma scratched the back of his head and confessed, "Honestly Joshua isn't after me. The Reapers may be unaware, but Joshua has no interest in my erasure… he wants to keep us preoccupied. Well not me so much as Weiss and Neku."

Kotori was getting closer to the truth, "How would keeping them busy help this city?"

Hanekoma figured he may as tell her. Apparently he found this Reaper trustworthy. Something anyone else would deem a mistake, "There's going to be a time the Noise to this city. All of them. They will easily overwhelm the city… rioting and rampant chaos will tear this place apart. Joshua needs to transfer his power to someone else in a few days, at that time Joshua will transcend to the angel plane and ask for aid. The Composer may propose to begin what we angels refer to as the Clash. If the Clash begins an all out war against the Noise will be declared. Even though that's suicide at this point. With Neku as Composer Joshua believes that he will be able to stop the Noise. If he can't ask Neku he'll ask Weiss. Even if Weiss isn't Composer wants Weiss to stay here because he is a powerful pawn. Joshua has use for pawns like him."

Kotori rubbed her forehead and thought a moment, "If that's true... This game is off. We need to conserve our efforts on evacuating every remaining citizen. This Reaper's game needs to be put on hold."

Hanekoma frowned, "I'm afraid it's not that simple… when people travel noise attach to them… more or less Shibuya's Noise would move as people moved. The Angels wouldn't allow the endangerment of the entire world. Fighting and winning is the best option for the whole world. The only alternative is destroying Shibuya with everyone in it. Although if someone were to evacuate now, it's the perfect time to do so. I don't think anything would stop them. By next week it will be impossible to leave. Neku doesn't know that yet."

Kotori though of Neku and shook her head.

She suddenly realized the truth of this game, "Joshua is forcing all of us to be here… if we can't abandon the game… Reapers… players… we'll be forced to fight."

Hanekoma nodded, "When that happens…every powerful soul in Shibuya will face against their strongest foe yet."

Kotori soaked the information in and wondered what could be done to control the damage, "What is the likelihood of Shibuya surviving?"

Hanekoma looked up as if looking at the size of the noise tattoo in the sky, "I'm not the guy who could tell you that. Joshua has no idea either… but he wants to try… Neku… he also deep down wants to fight for his city. He's a married man so he would get Shiki out of the city and come back to the city to fight. Shiki and Neku are well aware of the situation. They don't know the details, but they can sense it. They can feel urgency to leave, but they also want to protect their home. Everyone in this city knows the logical thing to do is run… but… the truth is… I think it's the city itself that wants to fight. Joshua is making sure that we fight. But Joshua could be wrong, what do you think?"

Kotori saw the problem, "If Neku is absolutely necessary… then Joshua will do everything in his power to keep him here. He's using you and Nanami to keep the two most powerful players here. It probably won't backfire either… Who's going to challenge him?"

Hanekoma shrugged, "Weiss and Thanatos…"

Kotori started with a giggle and then let out a louder laugh, "Does he really think that two mere players can kill the Composer? It's not possible."

Hanekoma frowned, "Just so you know… Weiss knows exactly how strong Joshua is… He knows a lot more than he realizes."

Kotori was confused, "Then why even try? What could you do to kill a Composer?"

Hanekoma shook his head with both eyes shut, "I wonder… What would you need to kill the Composer? He has reapers at his disposal, unspeakable power… intangible craft and full knowledge of the game. There's no way to outsmart him or overpower him so why does he bother?" Hanekoma said this dismissive. As if changing the subject due to shame.

Kotori didn't know, "It's ludicrous. I should ask him before the day is over."

She began to leave when Hanekoma made one last attempt to help her figure it out, "Expand your horizons, you'll see the bigger picture." The picture was bigger than she knew. He couldn't talk about Joshua and his weaknesses. He couldn't tell her everything about Weiss and Thanatos. He left her a hint, that's all he could do.

XXXXX

Thanatos wasn't in the mood for telling his story, so he decided to say as little as possible, "I'm a failure. I failed at being happy, being content, seeing the world as a beautiful place… I failed at life. When I was young I always saw the world as a worse place than it really was. Always full of hate towards the imperfections that surrounded me. Disease… war… human trafficking… and I never got an answer to why this could happen. I guess I always found myself cursing at a God I could never see. I asked day in and out why everyone fought so hard for something that doesn't make them happy. I had a neighbor… he was older than me, he never asked the questions I did. He worked every day to save enough money to buy a car he always wanted.

Eventually he was able to buy it, just like he wanted. It was everything he described it as… but then he stopped caring once he achieved what he wanted. He wanted more, next time a girl. The girl was pretty and matched him pretty well. I could see why he wanted her, but at the same time… I couldn't understand how unhappy he became after he had her. He forgot how beautiful he said she was and how valuable he said she was. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to marry her. The moment he got one thing he wanted, it's like he wanted something else."

Weiss went ahead and said, "Wants are infinite. Humans are designed never to have our wants fully met. That's why we're constantly driven to gain more. If there were a way to stop wanting… well then we'd stop being human."

Thanatos went on, "I became an artist and as an artist I wanted people to ask themselves why they did what they did. We're not animals some people like to think so but we're not. Why do we have poetry, religion or love…"

Love. Damn love.

That last one made him pause and then look at the ceiling with hate, "There was someone I knew… someone I cared about I never-… I never got say how I felt about her, but… I really did know what I wanted in the world. I didn't want her for sex or for her status… I just wanted to protect her and keep her from hurting ever again."

Weiss asked with Thanatos facing away from him, "Did she need protecting?"

Thanatos gave a quick answer and fought back tears, "Her dad, heavy alcoholic."

The fragment explained enough. Weiss nodded at that, "I see… her dad hurt her?"

Thanatos sounded defeated at this point, "He wasn't the only one. I tried to help her. I took her away, we took a train to get as far away as we could. We were both underage, so her father put in a police report. The police managed to find us under the Shibuya river and they gave the girl back to her father… he killed her."

Thanatos stared at the floor and looked up, "I didn't care about anything else anymore… My existence didn't mean more than anyone elses. Whenever I got what I wanted it ended up destroying me. It didn't seem fair at first but everyone I know has someone who wants more and never gets it. And when you try to reach out and take what you want… it always hurts when it's gone. Life… it's short… But to me it wasn't short enough. I killed myself. I thought about hanging myself, but then I figured no one would mind the mess if offed myself where she was taken from me. So I went under the Shibuya river and… bang…"

Thanatos explained the in between time, "It took me a while to pull the trigger… It took days. Every day I'd come to the river looking for a reason to live. I waited for an answer, I waited a long time for an answer. I never got one… I don't think I was ever supposed to get one. You see, the universe is a cruel place, it has dreams but they're never one with reality. Dreams don't come true, Weiss. Dreams destroy us. Humans are suicidal in nature… whether they know it or not. Everyone will want to off themselves when they realize their dreams clash with reality.

Thanatos stopped talking for a bit, "When I joined the game… I didn't value anything. I just wanted to die again so I could go to whatever hell I belonged in. But that was just it… That's the only thing I wanted… so they took that. My right as a player… the possibility of erasure… I've played this game so many times. Win or lose. They take the same thing every time. If I win, it doesn't count as a victory. If I lose it doesn't count as a loss. I can't be erased until I want something more than dying."

hanatos turned his head back to Weiss, "I want this to end, Weiss. I'm tired of this damn game. Every time… every time I play they take the same price… and every time I want it even more. So this suicidal plan of yours… well… it doesn't sound so bad to me. If I try to kill the Composer he's gonna have to erase me for good at some point."

Weiss realized why Thanatos was helping him, "You want me to help you die. You don't care if I succeed or not…"

Thanatos chuckled with his eyes drying up now, "You got it."

He let out a pathetic laugh and nudged Weiss, "I figure if we pull it off, the least you could do is kill me."

XXXX

Shooter dragged Nanami through the halls, her shoes making a screech of rubber while being dragged at high speeds, "I can't wait to introduce you to my tin pin coach!"

Nanami whimpered, "I'm not even a student here…"

Shooter didn't seem to mind, "That's ok! We can make you a student!"

Nanami was about to protest about how she already graduated, but when she was brought to a team of students in PE uniforms she neglected to mention it, "Coach! I found a new student!"

The coach looked familiar, "She was with that older man right?"

Shooter was busy not listening, "She's gonna join the tin pin team! Sign her up for the school!"

The coach honestly had no power to do that. But hey, it was in his right to let a new student attend class for at least one session. "You're a senior, right?"

Nanami had to nod instead of verbally lying, "Right… let me see if we have some spare PE uniforms. Shooter is a senior too, so… we'll let him show you around the school. We'll need to get your paperwork sent to the principal tomorrow, get changed."

Shooter had been held back a number of years. Might have something to do with him never studying in school and only playing tin pin.

Nanami was surprised, "I'm not getting thrown out?"

The coach shook his head, "No, but you're talking to my superiors after school. Here you go… this one's clean and should be around your size."

Nanami asked a fair question, "You can guess someone's size by looking at them?"

The coach could indeed, but only for girls, "Well… when you hand out PE uniforms you eventually get used to guessing measurements pretty quickly."

Nanami looked at the uniform to grimace, "This is exactly my size…" He got the waist perfectly.

The coach could tell someone's leg length, waist size, shoe size and especially bra size at a glance. He quietly patted himself on the back for his pinpoint accuracy. While Nanami noted the creepy first time guess down to the centimeter. "Go get changed, the girls locker room is over there, you should be going now, you're a minute behind the others. Hurry up." Nanami actually did have pretty good luck. She could pose as a student the entire time. It might be possible that other players were doing the same thing. She'd just pretend to be a student for a little while. Hopefully Hanekoma was OK.

XXXX

Weiss and Thanatos were on the prowl and going from room to room. They couldn't stay in the same room forever. Reapers were looking around posing as staff. If they caught you, you'd be erased for sure. The trick was moving to room to room and finding one that would be empty. There was no telling what room might have a class in it. So they moved every period. They took basic evasive action when they saw a hall monitor. "Open door over there!"

The hall monitor actually saw something and moved in their direction. They needed to hide or keep moving. Luckily for them they kept moving far enough to where the hall monitor stopped following them. "We lost him pretty easy." Thanatos thought it was a little suspicious. Lost him? That was odd.

Weiss looked around and noted the many lockers, "Lot's of benches and lockers."

Thanatos glanced around, "Seems like an empty locker room…"

Weiss started to walk towards the center of the locker area and studied the area. From what he could tell no reaper activity was abound, "Looks like we could stay here undisturbed for a little while…"

Thanatos shrugged, "No reason to be in a hurry. Wait, is that a pink bag?"

Weiss walked up to a gym bag and read the name on it, "Uh oh…" They were in the girl's locker room. And the bell was about to ring.

The room started to flood with girls coming to get changed for and from PE. Thanatos and Weiss acted quickly and hopped into some nearby lockers. Weiss luckily was in the locker right next to Thanatos. Even luckier, no one had taken that locker. Hopefully it would stay undisturbed. Weiss waited a moment and then slowly gazed outside what sight would allow. Apparently there was a girl getting changed nearby.

Weiss thought for a moment to consider the options, peep or not peep? Now let's weigh the options. You might not live to survive the week. It's not like he meant to end up in this situation. The universe was just being kind was all. So like any warm blooded male would. He looked after thinking about it a moment.

Thanatos didn't think about it for a milisecond. Without so much as blinking he pulled out his camera phone and took a number of pictures. Then he turned his phone to get some more pictures of some other girl. He had to admit, hanging out with Weiss was paying off. The expression on his face was bored amusement.

Weiss thought about it, but it didn't really seem up his alley to take pictures of undressing unsuspecting girls. He instead would just commit the image to memory, it was as good as any camera. He felt a strange amount of guilt, but hormones kinda override that.

Now much to their surprise, the girls locker room was fairly boring after about 2 minutes. Most of them got changed fast and before you knew it, they were wearing their normal uniforms. It was damned hard to see anything after the first girl left. By the third minute they had a few more girls walk by each bringing their own little charm to the table, but for the most part dressed. Finally they had about five girls in view and Weiss came upon the realization that he was a total creeper right now. At this point he was mentally judging the young ladies' taste in underwear. It was hard to give a number below a 7. Then at last one more girl dropped by. Thanatos got his camera phone ready when he paused and had to blink a few times.

It was Nanami. And no, she didn't notice them.

Thanatos wasn't sure what to do and honestly neither was Weiss. Ladies it's very easy for a guy to peak on women they don't personally know. You don't feel any tension or awkwardness. However when you DO see a girl you know start undressing. It's considerably more powerful than some random girl with no name. As Nanami dropped her skirt, a battle between hormones and logic began.

Damn, this may be his only chance.

Clearly he should just keep his mouth shut and watch her change clothes.

As Nanami unbuttoned the first button of her shirt, everything slowed down. There was battle between morals and hormones. Then as Nanami unbuttoned a few more buttons a battle began to turn in hormones favor. I mean... this was good luck, right?

Currently hormones was winning the war. As Nanami neared fully unbuttoning a button down shirt she received a text. It was from Weiss, _Don't undress._

_Apparently he had stronger morals than he thought. He could have just sit back and watched. Now he was just going to look like a total creep and she probably was going to have a fit._

For a moment she paused and thought about the situation. Nanami was a smart girl, it didn't take her long to realize she was being watched. She looked around and saw the closed lockers.

She turned slowly, shirt still unbuttoned.

Another text arrived, _Also don't make a big fuss. It'd get us erased._Nanami had serious temptation to make the biggest fuss a girl could make. She quickly pulled her skirt up and buttoned up her shirt. Then she proceeded to shoo away the other girls nearby, she approached the locker, "What are you doing in here?"She said in an angry whisper.

Weiss was surprised, "I thought you'd be a lot angrier… huh… you're taking this well."

Nanami explained, "If I made a scene it'd draw attention to me and it'd become apparent I don't belong here. We'd all get erased if I made a scene. Why did you warn me?"

Weiss wondered a good long moment. Damn. Why did he? Nanami had curves for Christ's sake. Did he turn gay in the last 5 minutes?

He didn't need to tell her. Nanami sighed and walked away. She had to catch up with the other girls and pretend to belong. From that point on it was silent in the locker room until the entire area was clear. When it was clear they both came out.

Thanatos was curious, "You gay?"

Weiss found that odd, "Homosexual? No… but I'm flattered I caught your attention."

Thanatos shrugged, "You're stupid, she could have easily overreacted and got us all busted."

Weiss nodded, "I know but… something…"

Thanatos went on, "Plus you missed out on seeing some ass."

Weiss sighed in disappointment, "I know… she does look cute in blue underwear."

Then a voice from someone else hiding in the locker, "You ruined it for all of us, really." He could hear the voice of the coach. Wait... he wasn't a player! What was Coach pedoperv doing here?!

Thanatos and Weiss spun their heads around as the coach came out of one of the lockers, "Oops… er…. I wasn't here!"

The coach ran out as Thanatos and Weiss wondered how it was metaphysically possible for him to have hid himself in a locker while not being caught by the girls or for that matter them. "That guy… I feel like I should report him or something…"

Thanatos shrugged, "Well he's not our problem, he's just a pervert like the rest of us." Sadly that was the case, neither of them were in a position to file a report or really care enough to do anything about it.

Also that coach had just reached a new level of creepy.

As both Weiss and Thanatos exited the locker room they ran into an unexpected visitor. "Hello… you must be Weiss."

It was Kotori. Damn! She could port them outside. School was almost over, but that could still kill them. "I have a few questions regarding your plan to overthrow the Composer…"

Weiss smiled carelessly, "Sure, ask away."

Thanatos found it odd that Weiss wasn't on guard.

Before Kotori asked anything Weiss told her, "Just so you know… it's more of a proposition than a plan. Go tell your Conductor that with his cooperation the Composer will die and in return for his aid, he can be Composer. I mean that's a pretty sweet deal, right?" Weiss had that annoyingly happy face on.

What?

Thanatos flinched with shock.

Kotori didn't see that coming, "You expect… the Conductor to betray…"

Weiss smiled and nodded, "Yes, exactly. When you combine the power of the Conductor with my own and my partner here… it's really not so hard to imagine the Composer falling. If Joshua dies early… we can evacuate the city. We can take Neku… Nanami… everyone out. All I ask is that when Sho become Composer that he bring the current players back to life and let us leave."

Kotori blinked a few times and smirked, "I may be able to arrange a meeting with him. I promise nothing else."

XXXX

The seal was complete. "Perfectly calculated, perfectly formulated… solved!" Sho Minamimoto was a firm believer in checking his work. Not to see if it was correct, but to admire how great he was. Under his trash heap was a tattoo similar to that of a noise. "Noise modification is my specialty. I'll finish this job in two more days." The amount of work he did was inhuman. It should take weeks to carefully place noise seals all throughout the city, but to him it was child's play. "No time to rest, resting subtracts from my arts and crafts time." To him what he was doing was a work of art. He needed to carefully place seal after seal, each using a junk heap as a catalyst. The full effect would be to summon a Noise which would give the players a run for their money. A Noise linked to his own Noise form.

The Noise would be a masterpiece, a work of art in of itself. For to the Conductor, noise modification was as natural to him as walking. It took time when he first started, it took time for him to get used to all the feelings and all the little places to fall. But in the end he mastered what Hanekoma taught him long ago. "Taboo noise…"

The seal would create the ultimate taboo Noise. Perhaps it may even become stronger than him... Nah! Impossible.

Teaching a human how to create Taboo noise was forbidden, thus their name. Hanekoma was later punished for it. A taboo noise was impossible to control by reapers and could rampantly attack all in its path. In time the players would be seeing a good deal more of these Taboo noise.

When Hanekoma first taught Sho how to use the Taboo noise. He taught it to him in order that he'd have a chance to defeat the Composer at his own game. For even the Composer couldn't control those noise.

Hanekoma justified it back in the day like this: If Sho did defeat Joshua, then at least the city would be spared. Sho would have been a terrible Composer, but it didn't matter. Hanekoma knew a secret, the more one dabbled in the power of Taboo noise the more likely the synthesizer would be destroyed. Sho was a genius, you need to be to even consider using Taboo Noise. The problem is this, gray markings slowly spread across Sho's body the more he messed with these Noise. The more he made the worse the gray became. He himself was becoming a full fledged noise. In time he would eventually become a Taboo noise himself and die.

Sho didn't die, over six long years he had mastered the art of the Taboo. His reaper wings long destroyed after the battle with Neku and Joshua. Instead of black reaper wings, on his back rested a grey noise seal. He could shapeshift into his noise form at will now. Even small parts of his body could become noise temporarily for attacking. But his true power was yet to be seen. He'd show them all, "My ultimate equation…"

Sho ran off out of sight to work on the next seal. Apparently this project required multiple timed seals across the city. Joshua may have told him to grab Hanekoma's research, but he didn't intend to just hand that kind of info over to Joshua just yet. No, he intended to make use of it.

A Noise that was bound to his own soul? The only weakness of such a Noise was that it could only exist as long as he existed. If you erased Sho you might erase this super Noise he was working on, but hey. That was a small risk. This was going to give him a much needed edge over Joshua and other Reapers.

After a few minutes another walked by and looked at the seal. Okami didn't have Serenade with him.

Okami smiled, "I will see this city be torn apart… by the ultimate noise beast…" He glanced at his phone and it gave him instructions. If one could bet, one might bet that whoever was on the phone was the same person that was on the phone with Charon earlier. It was telling Okami exactly what to do.

Okami had another idea of what to do with that Noise seal. He wasn't as smart as Sho Minamimoto or as strong, but the person who instructed him was. Maybe even smarter. Sho was a genius but he was human."I need to make a change… here… and here…" He checked the picture on his phone, it was perfect. "Need to keep moving… need to keep tracking. I've got your scent." He rushed off after Sho, both plotting a surprise to be revealed in the coming days.

XXXX

Kariya sat idly reading a magazine about the newest music. He sat reading several reviews on the infamous triple seven. "I'm glad he got brought back to life too… Honestly he had a lot going for him."

Uzuki arrived to disrupt his calm, "Why did the other officers want us to change the mission? What is Kotori up to?" Uzuki had known Kotori to never be trusted, always climbing up the ladder without care. "All she cares about is her next promotion!"

Kariya put down the magazine and both eyes were crossed, "Huh?..."

Uzuki wasn't finished, "See… she's willing to hurt anyone and everyone around her. She doesn't care about anyone else, she just wants to beat everything between her and her mad quest for power."

Kariya noticed she didn't see the irony in what she was saying. "Uzuki… umm… you might consider looking at yourself before you judge others-"

Uzuki definitely wasn't finished, "When I get the chance I'll finish her off… so then I'll be right below the conductor! I just need to to kill everyone who crosses me is all. Not you of course, you're helping me get there."

Kariya just couldn't comment. Uzuki was cute sometimes, but most of the time she was angry. There's a lot of little things that make her angry of course, but Kariya had long since learned to not get mad about things like promotions and player erasures. "You know Uzuki… you care too much…" He said as he rested a brand new lollipop behind his teeth.

Uzuki sighed, "It's true… but you care too little."

Kariya could see that, "Yeah… probably. But why worry about making yourself into an officer?"

Uzuki had suddenly decided to become deep, "It's what makes me who I am. I want to be better than I am… I want to become stonger… smarter… It's what makes me who I am. It's why I get angry at myself when I realize that I'm not what I want to be."

Kariya confessed something, "I wouldn't like it if you changed yourself. Part of what makes you… well… you… is your own self. Wanting to change yourself into an officer seems downright mad to me. Why pretend to be driven when I'm not? Why drive yourself to change when it'll only shorten your life?"

Uzuki's eyes narrowed, "Pretending… that's not it…"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sight. Her eyes widened. Really widened. Like OH SHIT level wide. She stood up in attention and gave a salute. The usual salute to the Conductor wasn't this tense.

Kariya kept looking at his magazine and didn't bother looking, "Relax, math man, we're erasing them as best we can. Besides we got a player in there who is a real chore. Give us some time, will ya?"

The voice of the Composer responded and made Kariya tense up. "You've both been doing admirably. My praise to your hard work."

Suddenly Kariya's head spun around and even he snapped to attention with a tense salute. Holy shit it was the Composer!

"As you were." The Composer took a form of a superior being, it was what he wore to all the reapers. Although some knew him better in his human form, this was a formality. It kept his identity safe and displayed absolute power. "Game Master Kariya, thank you for modifying your mission on my behalf. What did you think?"

Kariya nervously told him, "Composer… I was asked by one of my superior officers to change the mission. I did not know it was your request. I believed it was in order to get more information out of our targets. Kotori went in to find out what she could. It also serves a means to erase some of the more powerful players. The players have already met the objective of making it through the school day. Also it was an effective tactic to stall all the players from doing anything unpredictable today."

The reasons were good, they all made sense. The Composer praised him in soft voice, "A wise analysis, however you lack some data. A new enemy has arrived, one within my own ranks. A seal at this moment is being constructed around the city. A reaper of power has been preparing to call down a noise upon Shibuya… under my orders this seal was constructed. Another reaper is tampering with the seal. This displeases me."

Kariya didn't know anything about this and Uzuki was the first to ask, "Who sir? Who's making the seal and who's modifying it?"

The Composer answered the question with another question, "Where is Okami?"

They didn't know.

"The tampering of this seal is a disgrace to the reapers. Action must be taken to find out why someone is tampering with my work. Sho intends to make himself stronger, this was my plan and design. However the modifications being made are amplifying the power and going to call another powerful Noise upon the city."

Kariya thought a moment, "It could very well be Okami… we haven't seen him for days. I thought he was greatly injured and… inactive."

The Composer found that interesting, "A reasonable excuse… but that injury has no impact on our Okami. I will have him found and erased if he betrays us. Will I have your cooperation?"

Kariya found that an absurd question, "Of course you will have our full cooperation. What do you want of us?"

The Composer smiled behind the glowing light that hid his face, "I want to choose the missions from this day forward. I will also be playing a greater role in the game."

Kariya did a quick bow, "It'll be done. We await your instructions." Kariya was only ever serious in situations like these. The Composer was as serious as it got. Joshua turned human and took the form of what Neku remembered him as. The only difference was that he was wearing a glove to hide the timer on his hand. Most clothing couldn't hide a timer, but then he was Composer. Hanekoma and he could make damned near anything."I also am going to take this opportunity to study my forward opponent."

Joshua watched as the timer ran out and the school was out, "I'm interested in seeing his full potential. I have already seen the full power of Neku, it is time to see the full power of the one we call Weiss. Tomorrow, the missions belong to me. You'll show me your true face… or be erased."

The Composer? A kid? A kid that Kariya had seen before? It was the second week, back then. Uzuki noticed too. Neku's partner was the Composer? Holy crap, what was going on?

The day ended quickly with the ring of a bell. The players fell into sleep.

XXXX

It was a dream.

Weiss was riding the elevator. Floor after floor he waited to get to the top. As his memory went blank, his face changed to represent mad confidence. The elevator door opened and standing atop of pork city was Joshua and Hanekoma. "I'm surprised to see you here, Hanekoma. The Director gives you his attention. I am to tell you that your request is asking much."

Joshua had just finished a conversation with Hanekoma and passed Weiss on his way to the elevator. It was the first week Weiss had been in the game. It was before Weiss died. He was on top of Pork City.

Joshua stopped a moment to listen in to what Weiss said, "I've looked it over many times. Hanekoma, as much as you love this place I cannot risk the rest of creation for this place. The greatest and worst of humanity rest here in Shibuya. It is by their own creation the Noise are made."

Hanekoma nodded and asked him, "Are you sure? Are there any options left to us?"

Weiss ignored the fact Joshua was standing right there. His eyes were a different color than usual. It was hard to tell behind those shades of his. Joshua had seen Weiss before in the coffee shop. But Weiss was speaking with a different tone now. His face was different in terms of expression. His eyes seemed to be burning gold.

Joshua was now more interested, something in his city he didn't know about? It was a foreign concept.

"The love you feel for this city must fade. They aren't ready." Joshua paused and turned around. Who was this?

Joshua wanted to know who and what this visitor meant by what he said to Hanekoma, "And who are you exactly? Friend of Hanekoma's?"

Hanekoma threw a worried glance to Joshua as Weiss turned face him. His eyes changed color to silver upon looking at Joshua. His expression changed again, "Hanekoma, I have been sent here by the Director himself. He intends to observe until a decision is made. I believe he's putting me in charge of the operation we discussed and I will update you as I see fit. For the most part I don't intend to get involved until orders are given."

Call it weird, but Joshua couldn't quite pin what Weiss was. An angel? What rank? And what operation? Angels don't do operations. This was weird.

"Composer Joshua… I would say I was honored, but your shame disgraces the very ground you walk. I'm surprised Hanekoma counts you among his friends. Your soul is a foul color Composer. The only thing that I find more disgusting is the state of your city."

Joshua smiled at this and didn't drop the ego., "This is cute, you're not from around here are you?" Joshua wasn't stupid, this must have been another Angel. Probably a hotshot ranked one.

Weiss turned his attention back to Hanekoma, "I wonder what he will do?"

Hanekoma scratched the back of his head, "Give me a little more time… examine the game firsthand."

Weiss responded with those silver eyes piercing through the glasses, "Giving you time is not my call, joining this game would merely be a waste of time. We have observed every level of Shibuya, even the game. I need not play to make an evaluation."

Hanekoma stopped him there, "You need to play a game to make a true evaluation. What does the Director say? Will you at least examine the reaper's game first hand? Play the game, then ask the Director to make his decision."

Joshua wasn't sure how much of this he was supposed to hear as Weiss responded, "I'll examine the game for two weeks. After that you're on your own, my friend. I don't intend to get personally involved in this."

Joshua approached with narrow eyes, "Hanekoma… who is that boy?"

Weiss frowned at Joshua, "My identity won't matter soon enough, nor will this city. I await your failure, Composer. For now I suggest you do your best to forget me. I would have never met you if I had the choice. I am only here because the Director wishes it." Weiss took a bow.

Joshua said nothing. Definitely an angel. But at the same time, not. It felt like there were two souls. One was similar to that of a human and the other was far more dominant. The silver eyed angel was controlling a human? Who was the human? Who was the angel? Weiss blinked and his eyes became a normal gold color. His memory and soul scrambled themselves. As if rearranging themselves to suit whatever the angel needed. "You'd best forget me, Composer."

Weiss immediately jumped off the top of the building. He fell. He fell to his death with a smile on his face. The glow from his eyes faded. The face became a carefree smile. His soul was now that of a human.

Joshua noted everything he saw, but took no action. Time was short. Hanekoma and he needed to find out what options they had. The angels seemed to be involved with this game. But Joshua knew angels. They took a sit back and watch approach most of the time. If they sent an officer class angel down then it only meant he to hurry.

Joshua made a smartass remark, "Forget you? Already did. Hanekoma, we have work to do." They both left. The boy hit the ground. He should have splattered into a puddle. Instead he just hit the ground and died. He felt life fade from him. He felt memory fade from him. There was something in his head manipulating him. He didn't even know it.

[Author's notes: Hurray for edits. I got this one done for now. Hopefully the first time readers are enjoying themselves. I'm in the process of moving so it's hard to do this sort of thing. But hey, I do intend to edit up week 2 before working on the final chapter. I'll be editing the next chapter over the next few days. It'll be weeks at least before I finish the final chapter. New readers keep reading and don't think you've figured it out yet. ^^]


	11. Week Two, Day Four: Why fight?

The World Ends With You is property of square enix. All rights to their respective parties.

Week 2 Day 4: Why fight?

Every once in a while, hearing a song really reflects your life. There are people who genuinely love songs that do this. Songs motivate people and usually make them feel good about themselves. Thanatos always had a very different opinion. He left home with the song as it played over and over. The song was stored not in any sort of device, but a scar in his mind. There in the wounded heart the song played over and over like a broken record. As he sat on the plane he said to himself, "My head must be broken." He wanted to silence it, he wanted to forget himself and his thoughts of the world. Everyone always said the world was a beautiful place. That was their perception. He wondered perhaps that his perception of the world was twisted, "I can't possibly see what other people see." Other people had a sense of color that invoked emotion, based on what they saw they responded differently. Thanatos didn't see color and the only color he saw made him depressed and sometimes angry.

Yo listen up here's a story  
About a little guy that lives in a blue world  
And all day and all night and everything he sees  
Is just blue like him inside and outside  
Blue his house with a blue little window  
And a blue corvette  
And everything is blue for him and hisself  
And everybody around  
Cos he ain't got nobody to listen to

I'm blue da ba dee da ba die...

Thanatos had always tried his best to ignore the song playing in his mind; it broke his soul to pieces. Every time the song played it reminded him about his life and he didn't like being reminded. He tried to tell himself that the song wasn't for him and wasn't about him, but it seemed denial didn't help. Using his precious logic wouldn't help either, it wasn't logical. Insanity kept taunting him, but Thanatos was determined to beat this delusion by sheer force of will. But being strong willed wasn't enough, he needed help. A psychologist seemed a good place to start. He met all kinds of psychologists who studied different fields. Humanists thought unconditional positive regard was the cure, it wasn't and he didn't give a damn about their love. The Neo-Freudians listened, but gave no answers that could satisfy, he didn't need someone to listen he needed an answer. The only one that ever came close to helping him was a cognitive psychologist, the problem was he was going out of business. Psychologists thrive on their patients returning, cognitive psychologists couldn't keep their clients. Thanatos visited a young obese man who gave him an answer, "That song is playing over and over, because it meant something. It's not the song that's haunting you it's your interpretation of the song. You hate how it sounds like your life? Well if you liked your life it wouldn't be a problem would it? Listen to the lyrics and found out what you relate to that bothers you."

It helped to some degree, he observed the song and realized, "I'm blue. I wonder if that's the color I'm always seeing." He confused grey with blue and decided that he shouldn't worry about the shit in life. By sheer willpower, the song was silenced but the song came back later when he went to Japan. By then he learned quite a bit more of himself. According to something he read out of a magazine, he was a left brained thinker. He remembered looking up the subject and coming across a revelation. "That song is my right side…" His greatest weakness was his strength, logic. The left side of the brain was his friend, it controlled motor skills, memory, ability to reason, detail orientation and overall was his one and only defense against his right side. The right side of the brain was the impulsive, emotional, decision making and risk taking side. The problem wasn't that the right was defecting, it was that he didn't want it to work. He didn't want to feel depression, he didn't want to something impulsive and he didn't want to see how he really felt about the world. The world was cruel and full of evil, why would he want to feel it?

Blue are the people here that walk around,  
Blue like my corvette, it's standing outside.

Despite his feelings in the schism of his mind, he was an artist. Or perhaps because of the this constant inner turmoil. He could draw beautiful works despite having no ability to see color. But just because he could draw something beautiful doesn't mean he wanted to. Art always reflects the artist, he was depressed and alone. It showed in his art and the look on faces of his many critiques. People hated his work and they hated his perception of reality. Shibuya had no sympathy for the depressed artist. Shibuya had something else for him, a girl.

Blue are the words I say and what I think.

"I like it." She said after passing by his display in the art school he attended.

Thanatos was surprised, "Why is that?"

The girl smiled to hide her sadness, "I feel I can relate to it, it feels real."

Thanatos chuckled which was a rarity, "What's your name?"

The Japanese girl flipped her highlighted hair and told him the most beautiful name he ever heard, "My name is Ayane. You speak very good English."

He couldn't think straight while he spoke to her, "From the states."

The confused look on her face made Thanatos correct himself, "I'm from the United States. I'm an art student, that's my work."

She must have been the first human being he actually liked.

Blue are the streets and all the trees are too.  
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue.

He found himself immediately fond of her. He wanted to be with her as much as possible, life seemed better when she was around. His logic, what he valued most, was thrown out the window when it came to her. His depression was replaced with passion and his pain replaced with soothing presence. It became obvious that if he wanted anything in the world, he wanted her. He wanted to be there to protect her and he wanted to be the shoulder she cried on. For the first time he was a romantic, but every romance has an antagonist. Her father hated him, Ayane was the daughter of a drunk single father. Who more than once put misplaced color on his daughters face. Even Thanatos saw her dad's handiwork, "Did your dad do that to you?" The girl always lied and she never fooled anyone.

I have a blue house with a blue window.  
Blue is the colour of all that I wear.  
Blue are the feelings that live inside me.

I'm blue da ba dee da ba die...

Thanatos felt like he could take on the world and he gave it a try. He took the girl and ran, he wanted to take her as far away as he could without a second thought. He'd take her home with him, that seemed the best choice, but the choice wasn't his. The cops found him at the station and he ran for all it was worth. They ran together to the river by name only. At Shibuya river he was caught and detained as the girl was put in a car to return to her father. That was the last time he felt like he had purpose in the world. From that moment, his body may have survived, but he was truly dead. He wanted to be dead and his left and right side agreed for once. They both told him in unison, "There's no point in your life. There's no sense in trying to please others if you can't please yourself. She was the only thing that mattered to you and now…"

Inside and outside blue his house  
With the blue little window and a blue corvette  
And everything is blue for him and hisself  
And everybody around cause he aint got  
Nobody to listen to

I'm blue da ba dee da ba die...

Hope as he might, he knew what would happen to her when she returned to that monster that helped conceive her. The monster killed her in a drunken rage and there was no comfort for him. There was not an apology from the police, there was no council from friends, just him listening to the song over and over again. He waited silently in the cell as they let him out soon after. On his way out of the station he took a firearm from one from an unattended desk. Her father may have been doomed to rot in a cell for the rest of his life, but Thanatos felt the same way walking free. His final act was to send himself off to whatever heaven or hell he needed to be sent to. He wanted to die and he was going to make one last work of art. In the Shibuya river he took a can of spray-paint and sprayed his new name for the world to see, "Thanatos." After the words were written he told the whole city how he felt with a sound of a gat.

I'm blue da ba dee da ba die

Morning, after every bad day there was always the comfort of knowing that a worse one could be on its way. Thanatos didn't open his eyes as he stopped dreaming. The memory was painful, but true. He didn't have a reason to get up or move, he felt like everything was pointless. Even killing himself was a weak drive.

"I already told you that I'd be here for two weeks. It's my decision and I'm sticking by it." His partner was talking to someone on the phone.

Thanatos opened his eyes so little that Weiss wouldn't notice. Weiss wore an annoyed expression that didn't suit him and bobbing his head every so often. The other person on the line couldn't be heard; it seemed as if no one's voice was coming out of the other end. Was there even anyone on the other end of the phone? Was he just talking to himself?

Weiss answered, "And what of Okami? Do you believe he's capable of modifying the seal?"

Thanatos was hearing something he shouldn't have. He dare not speak up in case some other words were said, "Okami has the willpower, but the brains? No. But yes he is crafty... but crafty doesn't make it possible to modify seals of that magnitude…" Thanatos listened as best he could there was definitely no voice on the other end. "What was his price?"

Thanatos rationalized the possibilities, it could be that he was talking to Hanekoma. It seemed logical enough, but he had a feeling it wasn't Hanekoma. "A fitting price. Serenade was the last thing that linked him to humanity, now he only begets destruction. Have you considered the possibility of adding a natural disaster to ease the stress? You don't have permission? Tell him that it's the best choice of action. We're in Japan; an earthquake wouldn't be too much of a stretch. It's better than leaving it unexplained… Do you have any idea how much damage that's going to do to the Underground? We should test it on a smaller scale first. Try to get Okami to activate the seal at 5% completion. When will be able to see the results?" Thanatos didn't like what he was hearing. Weiss was definitely not talking to Hanekoma, but Thanatos didn't know anyone else. He wouldn't be talking to Joshua or reapers. Players or living people wouldn't be messing with noise. Was he talking to someone in the angel plane?

Weiss hung up the phone and collected himself, "Thanatos are you awake?"

Thanatos rose up and said, "I'm moving aren't I?"

Weiss faced him with a feint smile, "How much of that did you hear?"

Thanatos smiled, "Does it matter? It didn't make sense."

Weiss thought that seemed an oversimplification, "Now now, you're smarter than that. It should have made some sense shouldn't it?"

Thanatos shrugged, "I'm guessing you're working on this city's demolition?"

Weiss found that amusing his eye color was silver now. It was noticeably different, did his eyes change colors when his personality changed? "You could say that, I'm surprised at how astute you are. Nanami didn't notice a few things. Although…"

Thanatos spoke honestly, "She's not a liar. You and me are liars. We lie to ourselves and others, that's why I catch things. I don't trust you."

Weiss repeated some wise words, "Trust your partner, we're both after the same thing. We both have the same goal."

Thanatos frowned and looked at the sky, "I doubt that."

Joshua's voice rang out like a church bell, "And what exactly are you after?" Both heads of spun around to see Joshua standing by them was a raised hand to say hello. "I trust you slept well."

Thanatos pointed out, "You don't have any business here, beat it."

Joshua feigned himself hurt by that remark, "My… you are right… By the way, did you know the significance of your names?"

Weiss kept smiling, "By all means Composer, tell us the significance."

Joshua began to pace, "When Sigmund Freud was forced out of his country by the Germans, he came to America. There he became depressed and changed his theory. He came up with the life instinct Eros and the death instinct Thanatos. Although Thanatos is used quite a bit, I think the one that presents itself most obvious is your death drive. You named yourself Thanatos off of Freud's theory of death instinct… the want to return to an inanimate state. He is also the Greek personification of death."

Thanatos couldn't deny it, "That's why I picked the name… You picked your name because it's a reference to God, right?"

Joshua didn't answer, "As for Weiss… your name is a little less obvious. It can mean a few things like: white or to know. It can also mean clever or experienced. Now why would you call yourself that surname?"

Weiss grinned, "It's also another word for blank. But do tell me your theory." Joshua stopped pacing, "White… or blank either way the same point is across. Think of a clean slate or something that doesn't exist. Now if someone were to call themselves that… it would be because of the clean slate he was walking into. It would be because… you didn't matter." Weiss gave light applause, "And I don't." Joshua then hit the next definition, "The other meaning is pertaining to knowing?

One side blank, one side knowing… Can you guess what I'm getting at?"

Weiss very well could, "No idea." He and Joshua had some things in common, both could be a smartass.

Thanatos answered for him, "One half of him… is a façade, it doesn't matter. The other half of him… knows?"

Joshua was impressed, "Quite a partner… you asked what my business was here, I'm getting to it."

Weiss kept smiling and kept a cheery tone, "We're waiting."

Joshua pointed one more thing out, "When I met you on the top of Pork City… did you manage to remember it?"

Thanatos' eyes looked to his partner beside him while his body faced Joshua. Weiss looked at them both and nervously said, "Well… not initially." Weiss seemed different right now. Honestly Weiss acting strange in front of Joshua was a norm. Heck there were times just for an instant or two Weiss would say something strange. Thanatos was sure now. This wasn't the Weiss he knew. The one he knew was probably a facade. A fake. What he was seeing now might have been what he really was.

At a glance Weiss seemed smug. His tone of voice took a more condescending tone. His gaze changed from looking in the distance as if in a dream to a look of a predator. His hands normally loose became tense. Like someone who was holding himself back. His became silver, but his shades hid it most of the time. Every now and then you could see a silver glow. Eyes pupils shouldn't glow.

Joshua seemed satisfied with that answer. He understood at least to a partial degree what needed to be done. A test was in order. He had already prepared an appropriate means to see what exactly what he was dealing with.

Weiss shut his eyes and his silver glow in his eyes went away. His expression went back to a careless smile. His expression relaxed. His eyes changed color to a goldish color. They weren't glowing now. His hands stopped being so tense and instead took a relaxed standstill. Joshua could see more than that. His Soul power dropped dramatically. He could see the Soul shift in entirety. That wasn't something a human could do. Hell Joshua wasn't sure if he could do that to his own soul. Hanekoma could. But Hanekoma was an angel. Which of course brings to light the obvious suspicion.

Was Weiss an angel or not?

Weiss said to Joshua, "I have no reason to speak to you further." Whatever chance Joshua had to learn anything about Weiss, he lost it. It was like interrogating someone who knew nothing. A wonderful defense mechanism. There must have been an angel influencing his actions. But only at key moments. That was a plausible theory.

Only one way to find out. Joshua looked at his phone.

"Of course. Well the mission should be along any… moment… now." His eyes looked right at Weiss. And his hand stretched out as the mission beeped.

There was no time to read the mission mail. Joshua grabbed Weiss by the hand and looked him in the eyes. At an instant blue light shot out the moment Weiss felt his hand get touched. He felt a pact being forced upon him. Much like Neku pacting with Joshua. Weiss was forced into a pact on his second week of playing. Joshua's plan for Weiss was a little more devious. Joshua finished making a pact with Weiss.

Weiss blinked.

Joshua smirked.

Thanatos looked at his phone to read the mission, "Shit…"

_Change partners, those who fail to do so will be hunted and erased. ____**–**_**_The Reapers_**

XXX

Hanekoma sipped his coffee as he worked on his newest project. Unlike many players he himself didn't sleep until shortly before the next mission. After the last mission he carried Nanami back to his shop. It took him a while to beat the sleep problem, but he got it. There was a nice little imprint that the reapers used to force sleep, he took care of that by blocking the imprint with a simple seal. All it took was tracking the imprint and distorting it. For him it was easy, for Nanami… well she was sleeping on the couch he had for his customers. The real mystery was how their clothes got changed back shortly after the mission ended. To him, that was a bigger mystery than the noise seal in the sky. It was Joshua, he must have been tampering with the missions. But why? Joshua didn't tell Hanekoma about any need to tamper with missions. Joshua always told Hanekoma the truth, but it seemed he had a habit of leaving out major details.

The man wrote what he could with time he was given. He lost the seal he was going to use to gather noise into one place. His shop was ransacked. Apparently his coffee pot was stolen. Weird.

No doubt the Conductor's work. Joshua might have ordered him to retrieve the seal. However that seemed a risky move. Minamimoto couldn't be a good card to play. He was wild and difficult to control. With that knowledge in his hands now it could mean trouble. He knew what Minamimoto was capable of and he knew Joshua was more than capable of handling him. But there were a lot of variables to address.

Hanekoma wondered a lot of things, mostly what Joshua would do now. Hanekoma had a general idea on on Joshua's character, but the Composer had a way of varying on the details on how he did things. Hanekoma sighed. It was no use. He couldn't know what Joshua was going to do next unless he asked them.

Nanami woke up behind him.

Nanami rubbed one eye and stretched the arm she slept on, "You took us to your shop?"

Hanekoma nodded as he shut his notepad where he kept his reports. "The mission should arrive soon."

The proof was that Nanami woke up, usually players woke up not long before the mission arrived. "Whatever it is, we should be able to handle it. Missions don't seem to be much of a challenge for you." Nanami was confident enough.

Hanekoma couldn't disagree, "Yeah most missions weren't designed for the Producer to play. I can cheat a lot of the basic functions that make a game a difficulty."

The mission mail arrived. Hanekoma kept working on his notes. He didn't really care what it had to say. That's when Nanami started to panic, "That bastard! He knows that Weiss can't pick another partner!"

What was this? Hanekoma rubbed his chin and squinted. Joshua always did have interesting moves. "No… there's more to it… It forces them to split, meaning that Joshua could effectively choose who they partnered with. That alone could kill them. It's possible for us to partner with them."

Nanami paused and thought about it, "Yeah but… I'm sure Joshua would have blocked off the path between us."

Hanekoma consented that thought, "Yeah I suppose he could, but that seems fairly unimaginative for someone like him. I'd expect a reaper to do that. No, Joshua decided this mission. We've already been outmanuvered."

Hanekoma extended his hand to Nanami. She accepted, "I can reforge a pact forcibly and break it just as easily. Stay pacted with me until we find out what Joshua's doing."

Nanami suddenly realized just how much rules reapers made didn't apply to Hanekoma, "You can break through barriers… You can create and probably disrupt imprints… and now I hear you can form and reform pacts… glad you're on our side."

Hanekoma chuckled at that, "Thanks."

The blue light went off with a handshake. They'd be safe for the day. But they weren't the target. The ones in danger wasn't them. It was Weiss.

XXXX

Kotori was hot on the trail of the Conductor. Luckily she had an advantage for tracking other reapers. There were certain noise she left throughout the city which could be accessed like a camera. It allowed her to look through a good part of the city, but sadly she had to pick through these images one at a time. Like picking which camera you want to watch. She caught a glimpse of him and hopped off a one story building and skated down the road through hundreds of people. It would be a skaters dream if you could try it. Kotori wasn't a skater by nature. But they were handy in long distance travel and were easily removed. She needed the extra speed to even keep up with Sho. He was stopping on and off it seemed. It wouldn't be long before she found Sho. He was busy working on a big project for the Composer. A phone call didn't seem to have any effect. It never did. He rarely picked up the phone for any reason anyway. Kotori never knew what he was up to, but it didn't matter, he could very well be the next Composer. That was reason alone for her to watch him. Orders or no, something was going on here. The Composer was getting desperate, why? Was he in danger?

If Sho Minamimoto fought alongside with Weiss, Thanatos, Hanekoma and herself. Even a Composer was a dead man. Weiss seemed to be the one who triggered the incident. He might not have been a big deal, but he was getting too much attention right now. Weiss must have power she didn't know about, but it seemed Joshua was going to find some use for it. Maybe Joshua was just testing the waters? Maybe testing the waters would be a perfect time to backstab the Composer? Sho Minamimoto might actually be able to collect on such an idea. Joshua was unstoppable with his reapers, but if allies turned to enemies, it wouldn't be a battle.

One might argue that Sho Minamimoto couldn't be easily swayed to betray Joshua, but it wasn't true. In fact it was downright stupid to think that. Old Conductor's were loyal. Sho was just barely kept in line. Sho would betray him in a heartbeat if the opportune moment arrived. The problem was convincing Sho that Weiss and his group would help or more likely convincing him they'd BE of any help. Kotori believed they would, but Sho wouldn't just take her word for it, she needed Sho to meet Weiss. The Composer already saw something. If Sho saw it, well, maybe he'd know what to do.

It was unthinkable that the Composer could be using everyone for his own ends for this long. Every reaper had reason to hate Joshua, but Kotori had particularly good reason to hate him. Joshua did a lot of bad things, it only makes sense that he'd draw many that sought blood.

That's when she saw someone she didn't expect. Her racing thoughts and skates came to a skidding hault. "Okami?"

The wolf reaper turned to see Kotori and snarled, "What do you want, bitch?" What was he doing here? He was supposed to be injured.

The woman could see what he was working on, Okami was making complicated modifications to the Noise seals that Sho already made. "That's a noise synthesis… What are you doing modifying Sho's work?" The better question is how. Okami didn't know how to do that crap.

Okami growled and used a quick lie as he finished the job, the lie just bought him a little time. "I'm on orders from the Composer, the alpha dog. He told me to sniff out and modify these noise seals to help save Sho time. I myself do not understand their workings, but I will obey the alpha dog. As I was injured, apparently players are not my concern nor prey for this week."

The liar was caught, Kotori didn't buy it, "If the Composer did order you to do this. It would not be behind the Conductors back."

Okami glanced to see how far away the Conductor was, there was no sign of him. "I'll make this very clear, bitch. If you get in my way… I'll rend you here and now."

Kotori raised an eyebrow, "End me?... I see… you're going rogue against the reapers. As an officer class Reaper it's within my rights to end this here."

The wolf reaper readied himself and smirked; he noticed footsteps. Apparently he was getting help.

"Move along." Charon stepped out of the shadows. His red shades had a habit of making red eyes seem even more red.

Kotori's eyes widened and she stood up straight and just walked away. He gave Okami a quick command, "Leave her be. You have no time for distractions."

Okami had a way of making a grunt sound happy, "Thank you, but I could have taken her. A wolf of my power could tear that bitch apart."

Charon didn't seem to think so. "Her power is not yours. You may have more Soul power, true. But she is currently above you. In your current state… you would be beaten. Her power is… something you cannot handle as of yet."

Okami confessed, "She uses trickery and… cheap shots."

Charon didn't seem to care, "As do all humans who do not trust others. She is strong, but she lacks will. You are the ideal candidate for what I shall teach you."

Okami seemed satisfied, "Show me how to use it… the special noise."

Charon pointed at the seal as he spoke, "As you ask. Impress your rage upon this seal, let loose your fury into this place. By tomorrow, you will see the fruits of what hell wrought. When mankind devoured the forbidden fruit their fate sank deep within their soul. As the ferrymen to Hades, It is my charge to send men to whatever hell they choose. Death awaits all living things at the end of the beaten path. Those who flee from death are cowards. Those who seek death are fools. Those who wait for death…" These last words struck into Okami's heart, "Have the power to do terrible things. Unleash the noise."

Okami put both hands on the seal and sent what power he could muster into it. Expanding energy shot out from the seal in all directions. It whipped past everyone and everything in the area. The dazed Kotori saw nothing as the red light let loose a pull to every noise it could reach. "When the noise come… you will need to face any reapers who stand in your way."

Okami asked a legitimate question, "What if the Composer tries to stop me? I can't kill him."

Charon didn't seem to be concerned, "There are only two beings capable of staying my hand by force alone… The Composer is not one of them. I have my orders, I'll see you finish your task. There is much larger task at hand. You wish to see this city burn, I too… have no love of this place. But we shall see if they have the strength to stand against the noise. This is a test of sorts. We'll see on a small scale how much Noise they can handle. Avoid Kotori and the Conductor. Those two are capable of stopping you… all else will be lambs to the slaughter."

XXX

Making a pact with someone let you look into each other's souls. All sorts of barriers and facades just tore to pieces the moment a pact was made. Souls touched. It was intimate in a way. You could almost feel what another person felt. True you could keep most of yourself hidden from another person. But Joshua was the Composer. He intended to use this pact as a means to metaphorically hack into Weiss Soul. You couldn't do anything, but look at a Soul, but that's all Joshua needed.

Joshua led, they followed. Joshua didn't tell them much. But Weiss was pacted to Joshua now. The moment the pact started there was a battle of wills. Joshua pushed through Weiss and his Soul power. Weiss had impressive Soul power, but it's not like he could keep an experienced Composer out of his head. Joshua dug around. But there was nothing. Weiss' had a boring life and an even more boring mindset. Weiss was pathetic even. He had the most inflexible Soul Joshua had ever encountered. Weiss had similar Soul power to Neku. He was about as strong as Neku was 6 years ago, before the game started. Joshua wanted the juicy stuff. He dug into his memories. Too much to really sort through, but even if Joshua did try to look through Weiss' memory. It would have been useless. Weiss conveniently forgot everything that pertained to past or critical moments of last game. Hell... he wasn't even blocking Joshua. He just let Joshua look into his Soul and mind. He had nothing to hide.

Joshua put more effort into digging into Weiss. But in so doing he lowered his own defenses. Weiss kept his Soul open so Joshua would dive right in. But Weiss intended to look around Joshua's Soul. Joshua had a stronger Soul it was hard to even glimpse the slightest detail. But Weiss managed to see a few things. One: Immense control and intelligence. A person who could kill without batting an eye. Conflicted, but dead set on his current path. Unsure of what might happen, but certain of victory. Thoughts swirled his mind like that of a madman. How to best manipulate Neku? How best to learn and control Weiss? Is killing Charon possible? He went over the data he knew many times. These were not hidden thoughts. Therese were thoughts he was thinking about now and for a long time. The Composer had a lot on his mind. More than a normal human could handle.

"So where exactly are you taking us?" Thanatos asked just barely interested enough to even ask.

Joshua might not have dug anything out of Weiss yet, but he had an idea of how he could, "Bored already? We've only been walking a few minutes. But I do have something I want to show you both. My plan to save the city should suffice as a reason to come. I'll show the first stage of my idea."

Weiss followed and didn't hide his feelings towards Joshua. He didn't like Joshua. "If your plan might work I may actually not bother trying to kill you. Although honestly you're going to be die if your plan doesn't work."

Joshua corrected him, "I'm going to be die even if my plan DOES work."

Thanatos and Weiss stopped walking, "What do you mean?" Thanatos asked.

Even though it was subtle. Joshua and Weiss both looked like the were preoccupied. Thanatos wasn't a dumb guy, but he didn't really have a good way of knowing what sort of mental battle was going on while they walked. Joshua and Weiss were finding anything the other might let them see.

Joshua looked up into the sky of the city as he spoke, "There are two ways to transfer the Composer's power… If you manage to kill the Composer or if the Composer gives you his power. At my current state I can't give my power away."

Weiss had been educated on this, "Something to do with that timer?" Weiss noticed it? Odd considering Joshua was very good about hiding it. There it was ticking on his hand. But Joshua had kept his hand in his pocket. Usually he wore a glove to hide the timer, but recently gloves didn't work.

Joshua's craft became apparent as he spoke, "Ah, but giving up my power wouldn't get rid of my timer, would it? Before my time runs out I intend to die. I need someone to kill me and accept my power."

Thanatos muttered, "You intend to kill yourself… and somehow return to Shibuya without being erased?"

Joshua shrugged and shook his head, "There's no guarantee I can return… but there is a possibility I could. Let's start with the basics… Are you both aware of the Clash? Weiss no need to answer, you already know."

Weiss expression seemed confused, "I don't believe I do know about this… Clash." The word struck him the wrong way. Why did it bug him?

Joshua shrugged, "No matter. The Clash is a battle for the Underground. If it were to occur, every sentient thing would be forced to do battle with the noise. It is an effective tool for battling the noise, if we could erase them… we could save not just Shibuya… but the spreading of noise would come to a halt all over Japan. As people evacuate from the city… which they will do soon enough… A good deal of noise will follow. The noise may cause other areas to suffer our fate. When enough noise build up… the angels destroy it. Six years ago, I had the same fear. Shibuya was lost and it would be better it be slain by my hand than for the noise to spread. Now I'm incapable of doing so…"

Thanatos wasn't buying it, "You're a madman, you're willing to manipulate everyone you see to reach your own ends!"

Joshua saw the emptiness of the argument, "Manipulate? I manipulate the situation… I change the scenario for the betterment of the whole city? It's true I'm not the best Composer… but I cannot allow the noise to spread any more than they already have. In a few days you'll have an idea what I'm thinking. I'll need your help. If we were able to erase a massive amount of noise in the coming days… The upcoming battle would be much easier. We'll slowly erase the noise and when the clash comes… we'll be ready. The Conductor is already arranging the summoning of Noise on a large scale."

Weiss smiled after hearing Joshua's plan, "Simple but effective. That isn't your plan at all is it? That plan wouldn't require you to die."

Joshua shrugged, "I'll need the angels to evoke the Clash. To get to the angel plane… You more or less have to die. So if you want to erase me, that might help speed things along, don't you think? I'm willing to let one person kill me, it's just critical it's the right person."

Thanatos paused, was it really that simple? Joshua needed someone 'worthy' to kill him? If what Joshua said was true then he'd have a way out soon enough. With a new Composer he'd have a way out of this living hell. All he'd have to do is give Neku a gun and tell him that if he didn't shoot, he'd kill Shiki. Well at least Thanatos thought that'd work. Joshua had to die in a particular way and at a particular time maybe. Joshua was definitely leaving out a key detail, "What do you guys think… think you can help me start the clash? If everyone in Shibuya fought the noise, it'd be an easy victory."

Thanatos decided to be the voice of reason, "How strong are the noise? Do you even know?"

Joshua giggled, "Sho is working on the calculation. It's really just a simple math equation if you had all the measurements."

Weiss let out a malicious chuckle, "So you're using Sho to measure the effect of the noise. That's all?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow, "That's all he's supposed to be doing, yes." Joshua apparently was confident Sho wasn't going to do anything other than what Joshua told him.

Weiss pointed what he thought obvious, "Are you testing to see how strong the noise are? Wouldn't a better test to be how strong a summoned noise will actually be? Or are you afraid that even pulling a small amount of noise will cause the rest of them to explode out? The better test would be if we could fight a powerful Noise early on. That way we'll know what we're up against."

This is the part where Joshua needed help, "Yes, I am worried about that… but as Composer I won't put my city at risk for the purposes of a test. We'll start with a simple measurement of the current Noise and see how manageable it is. From there we can release set amounts into the city. This should at least slow the rate of decay Shibuya is experiencing. The seal Sho is putting around will collect large amounts of Noise and we can release them and fight them as we see fit."

Thanatos tried to make sense out of that, "So… let's say that big noise seal is a balloon full of noise air… and you're gonna try to let out a little air at a time, but you're not going to let it pop?"

Weiss found that amusing, "A good metaphor. So Joshua, at what point are you going to measure the power of all the players? You'd need to measure that too to know if they could erase the noise."

Weiss face was a little devious while he said that. Joshua pushed into his Soul, still couldn't see anything. He knew something was there he just couldn't see it.

Joshua was getting frustrated, "Weiss… what's your job here? You're not a player… you're here on a mission." Joshua was still pacted with him. He was looking around, but still not finding anything. By asking him a question he was trying to get Weiss to think about it. If Weiss thought about Joshua could read him.

There was nothing to read.

Weiss kept his smile on, "Not a mission as such. It's more of an assignment. My deadline is in four days. Hanekoma asked for more time, so I gave him a little more time." This was it. Whoever was controlling him was telling him what to say and how to feel. The reason Joshua couldn't find it was because the person Weiss was being controlled from was upstairs. He could read everything inside Weiss and not see a damned thing about whoever was controlling him.

Joshua shut his eyes in defeat. He was being controlled by an angel, he had to be an angel. It's the only thing that made sense.

Thanatos wondered if Weiss was going to remember what he was saying later, this didn't sound like his normal tone. "Ever notice Weiss' eyes change sometimes?"

Joshua found that interesting, "His eyes change do they?"

Weiss honestly said, "I never noticed."

Joshua threw an a look at Thanatos. He should do something to thank Thanatos. Maybe offer him a chance? Maybe not. A player as strong as Thanatos was not so easy to throw away. Joshua might have use for him in the Clash.

Joshua noted the fact, "So… what is your assignment? Can you tell me?"

Weiss shook his head, "Yes and no. I could tell you, but I don't know. I just know that I'm here to observe and play the game. You are powerful and intelligent, but try as you might. I will have no real answer. All I can say is I'm here under orders to observe. Feel free to guess though. Figuring me out might actually do me a favor."

Joshua shrugged and told him flat out, "I don't think you're human. I think you're being controlled from the angel plane. I think you're an operative of the angels. Although that's not a concern of mine. What I'm curious about is what rank and job you have. What your real mission is..."

Thanatos didn't think of it before but now it seemed clear, "You know Hanekoma… you know about the game… you could see reapers and noise when you were alive… You were gathering data on Shibuya the whole time. So all you've been doing this whole time is observing?"

Weiss gave a light little nod, "We're missing some minute details, but that's the general idea."

Angels had jobs and angels had missions. Observing was just a means to an end. The real question was what impact might his observations have on the rest of Shibuya. Joshua intended to find out. Weiss could be a candidate for Composer, but it was looking less and less like that'd be possible. Weiss had the potential, Joshua saw it. But if he was being controlled by an angel then Joshua needed to know exactly which one.

Joshua did have one way of getting the truth out of him, "Thanatos, would you agree that players need to be tested along with the noise?"

Thanatos was quiet and shrugged, "I guess, what are you getting at?"

Joshua had a simple solution, "Thanatos… I'll make you a deal. If you try to erase Weiss here and now I'll give your price back at the end of the week. If you manage to erase him, I'll give your price back now."

Joshua caught both of them offguard. Was this his plan all along? They weren't pacted anymore so Weiss was vulnerable.

Thanatos looked at Weiss. Both of them suddenly examining the distance between them and the likelihood of being attacked.

Joshua harped on the idea, "What do you say? You can finally rest in peace right? See that girl you like? Sorry about the price and all… but it was what you valued most. Still… you can die now if you try. Weiss doesn't care if he's erased, right?"

Weiss frowned. "I don't mind being erased, but what about Nanami?"

Joshua knew this would work, "What about her?"

Weiss glared, "Can you guarantee she'll not be erased?"

Josh shook his head, "No."

Thanatos started to slowly pull his hands out of his pockets and his eyes glared at the floor, "So you're saying you'll give my price back if I tried to erase him…"

Joshua smiled, "I never lie when I make deals." That was a lie.

Weiss thought about that, "Thanatos don't be stupid. There's no guarantee he'll give your price back."

Joshua lightly tapped his phone and turned the screen to Thanatos, "It's already done. The orders were already given. I know you'll do it. If you erase him… it'll be all over… no more pain or broken desires. Do it. Release yourself from this hell that's been constructed around you."

Thanatos pulled both hands out as a powerful blue glow rose around his body. The killing intent was clear and his power was bordering on the impossible. A player that had been imprisoned in game after game, killing reaper after reaper only to learn it was pointless. Thanatos was strong and Weiss wasn't sure if he was prepared to fight him.

Joshua wasn't quite finished, "Use this… it'll make it easier."

Joshua tossed a pin to Thanatos which was an imprisoned dragon noise. His usual noise wouldn't do, the dragon appeared in a blaze of blue flame and both it and its owner had their focus on the player before them, "Don't do this, Thanatos."

There was a flash of memory in Weiss. He saw Neku and Shiki. Neku raising his psych to kill her. "Don't kill me." The image vanished. Weiss caught himself. He needed to focus on Thanatos. Thanatos gripped that dragon pin and summoned it. Energy flashed and a psychotic look of murder crossed Thanatos. He didn't give a damn about the rest of the world, he wanted to die.

Thanatos closed both eyes as he readied himself to do what was wrong, "I have to."

XXXXX

Kotori snapped out of her stupor, "What did that bastard do? What was that?..." It was no ordinary imprint, the imprint was strong enough to be considered a form of mind control. Could the Producer have used it? Yes, only an angel or otherworldly being could do something like that. Hanekoma could have made it and this guy was using it? No, that wasn't his style. Hanekoma would never make an imprint like that. This was different. She tried her best to remember the voice who said the words, but nothing came to mind. Her mind shut down after Charon spoke and she couldn't even remember what Charon said to make her go away. What was that? No matter, she remembered everything before that.

"Okami… he's modifying the measurement seal. It's not going to measure the Noise. It's absorbing them. It would make an unbelievably strong Noise. Okami couldn't control a noise like that… Okami shouldn't have known how to modify a seal like that. The only person who could would be Hanekoma... he's the only angel in Shibuya."

Suddenly it hit her when her head cleared. "Another angel. There's another angel. A strong one at that. She needed to piece it together. Whoever it was, didn't want to kill Hanekoma. Hell they were both angels. They probably were working together. It would be someone who had regular contact with Hanekoma and Charon. It would someone who had hidden his power. Someone who until recently hadn't made a move.

Now everything was coming together. Kotori had seen enough to figure it out. "Weiss. The angel is Weiss. I need to warn the Composer. He's having his pawns ruin the Composers plan. Damn it! How could have not noticed until now!"

Kotori kicked the wall and went flying down the road. She kept going faster and faster until someone she saw in front of her made her stop. It was a human, but it was one with enough Soul power to stop her even in the UG. It was Neku Sakuraba, "You're Kotori, right?"

Kotori seemed to stutter. "Y-Yes." Odd considering the rush she was in before. "Yes I am."

Neku asked her, "What's your business?"

Kotori smiled. Neku could help her. Not just that... He might be the solution for everything. "I need to find the Composer."

Neku remembered her. She was the reaper that didn't fight him. How come he never noticed her before? How long had she worked for Joshua. He couldn't recall anything about her in the previous weeks, but by the way she carried herself. She was an officer class Reaper. One that was a veteran officer. She was Kotori, he'd never heard that name before Joshua said it. "You're friends with Hanekoma aren't you?"

Kotori didn't answer immediately, "I'm still working for the Composer. We need to warn the Composer that a massive Noise is about to be unleashed on the city."

Neku asked her, "How soon?"

Kotori summed it up as fast as she could, "There's an angel here other than Hanekoma. He's the one who's going to trigger it. We'll need Joshua."

Neku's eyes narrowed. If that was true. Then it was time to take another step into the game. Joshua must have known already, why didn't he ask for help? It didn't matter. He was going to help Shibuya, not Joshua. He started texting Shiki. Beat and Rhyme could keep a lookout.

Neku needed to ask Joshua what was going on. Shiki, Beat and Rhyme could handle anything. He started moving with Kotori, "I'll help you find him. We made a pact long ago, if I try hard enough I can track him using our old pact."

Kotori rolled along with him, "I see…" She didn't seem surprised.

In fact the look on her face made Neku wonder. "Have we met before?"

Kotori nodded yes. She didn't say where though.

There was something familiar about her, he just couldn't figure it out. She never looked directly at him. Her eyes flicked over occasionally. She was nervous right now. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't.

Neku asked a quick question, "When exactly did you become a reaper?"

Kotori answered after hesitation, "21 years ago…"

Neku nodded at that, "Don't suppose you remember the day?"

Kotori tried her best to be honest, "I'd rather not say…"

Neku wasn't going to pry too hard. She was really noticable. She had orange hair and purple eyes. Strange if she'd been a reaper for that long that he didn't notice her during the Kitaniji incident 6 years ago. How old was he then? 15? For three weeks he should have seen her at least once.

Kotori looked at Neku, but kept her mouth shut. She was probably pushing it.

Neku asked her one last question, "Did you have any children before you became a rea-?"

Kotori interrupted, "We should hurry."

Something was up.

XXXX

Beat was a man of action, "I ain't a man made fo waitin'!" Already jumping the gun was he?

Rhyme sighed as her older brother was a bit of a handful, "Just calm down… It's not like we're going to change anything by being loud."

Beat didn't care, "I'd rather be loud than silent, yo!"

Rhyme rubbed her eyes, "I know… that's what's wrong."

They had been waiting there for 'far too long' and Beat's definition of too long translated roughly to five minutes. The text they got from Neku sent Beat into a frenzy. He was tired of doing nothing, he wanted to test his Soul power against some Noise and Reapers. As he was now, he was definitely stronger than any other player. Hell he could probably fight an officer class Reaper with a partner.

Sadly Rhyme didn't see much of a point in waiting either. The chances of finding what they were looking for was slim at best. The text told them to wait for and follow Sho Minamimoto. As luck would have it, what they were looking for wasn't far from them. Sho Minamimoto, their target, had arrived.

Beat was so excited he nearly screamed, "THERE! THERE HE IS!" Actually there was nothing near about it. Beat leapt on his skateboard and skyrocketed toward Sho who didn't seem to be paying any attention to the attacking skater.

"Beat we just need to talk to him!" Rhyme being the voice of reason, was being ignored at all times. Sho just kept looking at the floor as he drew something in the ground with some type of psych that let him draw on the ground with his fingers. He was completely obsessed with every detail analyzing every detail down to what he would claim to be the atomic level. Just as Beat as about to crash into him, Sho leapt into the air and went right back to working on the seal as if nothing happened. Beat recovered from crashing into a wall. He then proceeded to use a number of slam attacks and swing his skateboard to hit the Conductor. Sho nimbly dodged everything and didn't even stop working on the seal. Sho completed it as Beat attacked at him over and over again. But before he made his exit Rhyme approached, "Excuse me, but… Hanekoma and Neku wanted us to deliver a message."

Sho faced her and ducked as a skateboard barely missed his head, "And what might that message be, you're subtracting my time?"

He dodged again before kicking Beat in the stomach. Apparently the Conductor was stronger than he used to be. But he was one of the toughest opponents Neku and Beat had to face.

Rhyme reached into her pocket as Sho avoided one of Beats attacks and countered yet again without looking. "He wanted to tell you that the modifying the seal was extremely dangerous. Also that if you tried to make a taboo noise with it… you'd fuse with it and… probably die."

Sho seemed to consider this, "Don't worry, I'm not doing anything like that. I've made a similar calculation. After doing the math I decided follow the Composer's directions. It's the original seal which he made. It's the seal divided by 1. It's exactly the same. The Composer made it clear not to tamper with it."

Sho turned and blocked one of Beats attacks. Apparently Beat had really put some muscle into it. The Conductor blocked the attack and then let loose a fierce kick to Beat's chest. Beat was tough. He always was. That kick didn't keep him down for long.

"Is there anything else that you wanted to tell me? I'm about done with you, radian." Sho put the finishing touches on his seal."

Rhyme pulled out her cell phone and looked, "Also there's something about Neku saying there's someone behind you modifying the seals."

Sho didn't like that, "Who?"

Rhyme put it simply, "We aren't quite sure. But I think Okami is making modifications to your work as you go."

Sho told her, "Okami wouldn't understand this enough to make modifications."

The blonde went on, "Apparently he's doing it."

Sho didn't think so, "I would have noticed."

Rhyme continued, "He has someone helping him."

Sho rolled his eyes, "We're done radian. My orders were to place these seals in places chosen by the Composer. You're just some negative hectopascal who's trying to slow me down."

Rhyme made one last try, "Just check one of the ones in the back. They've been modified."

Sho didn't care, "Then the Composer must have cleared it. The Composer and the Producer are the only ones who are even in the right Vector to modify this. Anyone else couldn't factor this."

Rhyme told him simply, "Just check."

Sho vanished.

XXXXX

Thanatos was one with his noise; the Noise looked intimidating but Thanatos seemed to spice the Noise up with extra power and murder intent. Thanatos began by making a motion with his left hand, his left controlled the Noise and his right hand could be used for attacks. His right hand could be used to stun enemies and block attacks. In fact that's what he opened with, a right handed palm thrust which shot a distorted energy wave which Weiss managed to dodge. The point wasn't to hit him, the point was to control Weiss' movement. He walked right into a dragon attack. The dragon tackled him and knocked him back as far as it could. The dragon shot a fireball after tackling its target. It hoped to hit Weiss while he was being knocked back. No such luck, a well placed plasma bolt caused the fireball to explode prematurely.

Joshua just sat smiling and watching. His legs were crossed and his hands were neatly folded on his lap. The look on his face was of observation and smug. Weiss offensive power was a lot like Neku's 6 years ago. He had some major room for improvement. But even so the raw talent was unbelievable. He seemed human enough. But he intended to meet Weiss' maker.

As the smoke cleared a floating Weiss shot through it and hit the dragon with several shockwave slashes. It lashed a bite in his direction but Weiss countered by activating a lightning psych which after a few bolt strikes the dragon was stunned. Weiss would have got another attack off but he was hit by one of Thanatos' right hand attacks. Even at a distance it managed to stun Weiss for a few seconds. Before he could hit Weiss with a second distortion, Weiss evaded.

The dragon huffed while Weiss was stunned. It was ready to unleash a flame breath, it did so as Thanatos did his best to control Weiss' movements. He was pretty damn good at it, Weiss was hit by a good portion of the flames. The dragon was about to bite again, but Weiss responded by sending a bolt at Thanatos with one hand and sending plasma at the dragon with the other. The bolt didn't hit Thanatos thanks to his right hand sending a distortion in the air causing the psych to fail entirely. Thanatos could use his right hand to stun players and Noise, it wasn't an effective attack on it's own. But it could keep someone still for a moment or completely screw up their psyches. Thanatos wasn't going to let Weiss charge up his strongest psyches. He used his right hand to catch the bolt Weiss sent his way. Any psych that came into contact with Thanatos's right hand got obliterated.

Joshua was enjoying every moment, "This is perfect. Weiss doesn't want to use his full power since I'm pacted with him… Thanatos can't be erased… Weiss can't win. Even if he does win he'll need to draw from the power of the angel plane. When that happens I should be able to tell exactly who we're dealing with."

From what he understood an angel was granted finite power before coming to the living world. Based on what finite power was given, one could determine how powerful and what rank the angel was. The exception was Security, Charon was stronger than anything, but he was lower ranked than Hanekoma or even Joshua. However his job required him to be strong. Stronger than a Composer. So Charon had an unbelievable amount of power. Hanekoma wasn't given a job where he was supposed to fight. Even so, they gave him plenty in the event he had to. Hanekoma in terms of combat ability wasn't at the top of the chain when it came to angel's power. Even though Hanekoma was more powerful than any Reaper. If an officer class angel hit the field, they might be in some serious shit.

Joshua wasn't in a position to stop the angel. He was on parole though. The best Joshua could do is get full confirmation that they were up against an angel. If Weiss was indeed an angel the truth would show. If Joshua was careful, he'd be able to accurately guess exactly what Weiss was doing in his city. It was more than observation, Weiss was here for a reason. He didn't seem evil, but the person controlling him could very well be.

Thanatos was clearly winning, giving Weiss a good number of hits and Weiss didn't even land a blow on Thanatos directly. Although if Weiss did, it'd wouldn't last much longer. Weiss knew what he had to do, he had to get closer. So far Thanatos had kept him at a distance. "You don't know what you're doing!" He said warning Joshua and Thanatos.

Thanatos knew exactly what he was doing, "I'm going to die one way or another! If it means erasing you, so be it!" He shoved a distortion right at Weiss and the dragon responded with a direct fireball hit. Weiss was getting desperate. He could either be erased or somehow he could get lucky. He needed to run. He back flipped and darted in the other direction. He crashed into a wall. Not a weak one either. Composers were pretty good at making walls. Joshua wasn't letting him go anywhere.

No way to run. In that case. Weiss sent a lightning bolt at the dragon then zig zag dodged the distortions. Weiss had to hold his own for now, "I'm sorry old friend." Weiss zipped up to Thanatos and avoided a distortion fist. From behind him the dragon couldn't launch fire without hitting his master. Weiss could get in a fair bit of damage for once. After several shockwave lashes a hand reach out and grabbed Weiss by the neck. Thanatos wasn't phased by his attacks, "I can't die, dammit… what makes you think you could kill me?" Thanatos was tougher than Weiss thought. He didn't even flinch.

With his hands wrapped around Weiss' neck Thanatos channeled his distortion attack into Weiss over and over again. It was being shocked with blue electricity and being unable to move or think. With his free hand he started punching Weiss. He turned Weiss toward his dragon as the dragon breathed a wave of fire onto Weiss' back, "Now choose! Your pride or your life!"

Weiss didn't get it, how was pride causing him to lose? Why was he so hellbent on dying? Why was he so powerful from sheer willpower alone? Fire and blue lighting coursed through his body. He was gradually blacking out, "So this is death… don't see what everyone's so afraid of." Weiss muttered as he passed out.

Thanatos had no issue killing a passed out player. He dropped him on the ground and stood back as his dragon charged up one final energy blast. A condensed ball of energy of blue and Thanatos muttered it's attack name, "Mega flare." The blast flew toward Weiss and Thanatos kept his back turned before the explosion even went off.

Joshua frowned, "And what might you be doing now?"

Thanatos extended his arm and spoke with a forceful tone, "My payment, now."

Joshua sighed and wondered how best to word what to say, "If you think the fight is over… you're not going to get any sort of payment from me today."

Thanatos turned to see glowing eyes. "Weiss?"

The presence behind him was in no way Weiss. Weiss floated from the ground, energy flowing through his body. The presence within wasn't what was normally in control. Joshua smirked as it was finally time to see what he wanted to see, "Now we see the puppeteer. Thanatos, you're up. Remember he still can't erase you."

The blue haired player didn't need to be told twice, "Why is that I'm the only one who DOESN'T fight death?" He sent a distortion attack at Weiss to see it had no effect.

He tried another one.

It had no effect.

The dragon's mega flare was incoming and the explosion was big enough to make Joshua whistle.

It had no effect. Weiss just stood there floating. His Soul power was shifting like crazy. Joshua was able to see it now. They were dealing with at least an officer class angel. Although something was odd. It didn't feel like an angel was in control right now. Weiss eyes were gold colored now, not silver. They were glowing gold. With a pulse of power the pact between him and Joshua was broken. Joshua saw an officer class angel for a split second, but the angel wasn't in control either. Strange.

Joshua was stunned by what he saw, "Impossible." Whatever Weiss did, he broke the pact from sheer power alone. Joshua was a Composer, but he could feel that he was out of his league right now.

Whatever was controlling Weiss was stronger than a Composer. "Player Thanatos, Seeker of death." Weiss spoke to Thanatos with a voice distorted as someone else was talking through him, "Your sentence to live in this eternal loop has ended.. You will walk as all players do until the week comes to an end… When it does, you will have a choice to live or to die. Based on your choice. You will see your loved one once again."

Thanatos had no idea who they were talking to. "What is this?"

Joshua now understood, "You're not some underling… You're the top of the chain aren't you?"

The glowing gold eyes turned their focus to Joshua, "Composer Joshua, if you wish to activate the Clash, you will meet with me in the angel plane. When Neku Sakuraba becomes Composer, only then will the Clash be considered."

Joshua walked up with interest trying to explain his situation, "No easy task, I can get Neku to become Composer, I will need time."

Weiss spoke for a higher being, "You have until the end of the week. Continue with the game and the missions. You have tried to harm an innocent player. I will no longer protect you from the wrath of my angels. You will be tested. I will be watching. If you fail. If you or any of the forces you command erase this child, I will reign destruction upon Shibuya. The world ends with you, farewell." The eyes shut and Weiss collapsed to the floor completely helpless. At that moment all the barriers in the areas shattered. Hanekoma, Neku and Kotori were on their way.

Thanatos paused to see a timer on his hand. "What the hell is this?" It was set for four days.

Hanekoma spoke up from behind them, "It's the time you have to live. Courtesy of our boss. You screwed up Joshua. I won't be able to save you from who's coming."

Thanatos demanded his end of the deal, "I defeated him! Erase me!"

Joshua frowned and shook his head, "You didn't erase him. I miscalculated… I'm sorry Thanatos, I can't erase you. You'll make your choice in four days. Until that time you may wander Shibuya without a partner."

Thanatos looked at the timer on his hand and before he felt the need to take it out on Weiss someone grabbed his hand. He was going to erase Weiss and get what was his. He wanted to die! He earned his right to die! He wanted to escape this hell.

Neku Sakuraba caught his arm, "You're a selfish bastard. You'd kill your partner for your own gain?"

Thanatos shouted at the former player, "You don't know what I've gone through! You're one of the reasons I died! You're one of the reasons I couldn't live."

Neku's glare made Thanatos feel fear for the first time, "You're pathetic. If you want to die, go die by yourself. Don't take him with you."

Neku didn't know this guy and already he felt like he despised him. Thanatos looked like he was going to strike Neku when he stopped. Neku was right. "Just leave me be. Don't show your face to me... You're the one who rejected my art. You're one of the reasons I kiled myself. I couldn't get a job because of you."

Neku had a bunch of art ideas come to him. But he never remembered anyone called Thanatos sending him art. Neku never met this guy personally, but he could make a guess. "You sent in some of your artwork?"

Thanatos glared, "It was approved by everyone except you. I was going to be a concept artist. It doesn't matter now."

Neku remembered now. There were works of art that were staggering. He was the one who sent in some artworks that made everyone coo and caw. The problem was the imprints in them were so negative, so full of despair Neku couldn't stand them. Neku rejectect it. His rejection was enough to send all the art packing.

Thanatos didn't want an apology so Neku didn't give one. Neku came up to Joshua.

Joshua was listening, "And what might I need to know?"

Hanekoma went ahead and told him, "Okami has been modifying the noise seals. He's doing so in a way not even Sho could detect."

Joshua knew this, "I'm aware, but this had precedence. I'll deal with Okami shortly."

Hanekoma shook his head, "Okami intends to call the noise down prematurely. The noise could destroy the underground before the week is over if we don't stop him."

Joshua rubbed his chin, "He could make such modifications? How would he have gained such knowledge?"

Kotori chimed in as she put together her experiences, "Charon that was his name… Charon is helping him."

Joshua and Hanekoma seemed to be the only ones shocked by that.

"Are you certain?" Hanekoma asked.

Kotori shook her head, "There's no mistake, Charon is helping him." The implications of that were deeper than she knew. Kotori pointed at Weiss, "I think he's an angel. He's been hiding his power, but I'm certain he's involved with the angels."

Joshua smirked, "You're a little late to the party. I've just made an attempt to look into it, but he broke my pact before I could be sure. The Director of the Angels broke my pact and sent me a verbal warning. I can't erase him. Else the Director will turn this city to ash."

Neku felt his eyes widen, "That's possible? I thought you were the only one who could do that."

Joshua glared at Neku as if he was stupid, "Where do you think my powers come from, Neku? Did you think I've always been Composer? No. If you kill a Composer you become the next Composer. The reason I'm Composer is I killed the old one. You go back far enough and you'll realize that this power had to have a source. The angels. The angels are what keeps me in check. The Director is their boss. I may be the god of Shibuya, but he's just a god."

Kotori didn't know that. The only angel she knew about was Hanekoma. "But Weiss is an angel, right?"

Joshua sadly didn't know, "I think Weiss is just a human."

There was a laugh that came from Weiss. A quick gasp of air then a laugh. "Human?... You think I'm human?"

Thanatos said flatly, "That's not Weiss."

Kotori pointed, "So you're an angel?"

Hanekoma looked at the silver eyes and asked, "Why are you here, now?"

Weiss got up. But this wasn't Weiss. Not anymore.

Joshua went ahead and explained it as best he could, "When I was pacted with Weiss he was human. There was no one else. But his memories were being modified. He was given orders and being controlled indirectly by someone else. Weiss is just an ordinary human."

Weiss looked up at Joshua and his eyes were glowing silver now. "I am more than that."

Kotori demanded to know, "Are you the one who's manipulated Okami into modifying the seal."

Silver eyes didn't wear Weiss normal smirk. It was a haughty smug of superiority. It was the look of a villain, "By orders of the Director I have come. Using Weiss as my vessel I have come to bring judgment to Shibuya."

Joshua guessed, "So you are the angel in control of Weiss?"

Hanekoma brought immediate clarity to the situation, "Weiss' body is a gateway of sorts. Angels normally can't come to this plane. They need bodies that can hold their power. Weiss whether he knew it or not was linked to the angel plane. Angels were able to implant mental suggestions or shift his soul as needed. None of them actually possessed Weiss so you couldn't sense or detect them."

Joshua could sense an angel now. Even without a pact, he sensed a completely different presence inside Weiss right now. This presence was an enemy. The Director sent a verbal warning through Weiss. If Weiss was erased, everything would go blam. Which put Joshua in an awkward spot. Joshua had the power and the means to erase Weiss right there. If he wanted to he could go full Composer and turn him into meat. He wanted to. But Joshua had a timer on his hand, a timer put there by the Director.

This Weiss wasn't a good guy. You could tell even though his aura was holy, that he meant no good to Shibuya.

Even Neku could sense it, "What is your purpose for being here, angel?"

The Angel told him, "I intend to destroy Shibuya."

Neku didn't like hearing that. Neku zipped up to him and launched a psych straight at him. Neku was the perfect player. He was fast, his attacks were strong. His psych was perfectly used. But the angel was ready. By a force of will he blew back Neku's attack. And called down a silver pillar of light from the sky which hit Neku dead on. The attack didn't defeat Neku, but it let him know what he was up against. This was an officer class angel. He wasn't their friend and he was the one who was orchestrating Okami to modify the Noise seals. He was what they were up against. He was stronger than Hanekoma and was stronger than Kitaniji.

Neku stopped attacked when he took the attack. Not because he couldn't keep fighting, but because he knew it was pointless.

The angel's soul was far beyond any human's and he knew it. "You're the human Hanekoma liked aren't you? I can see why." He looked to Joshua and smiled. "Count your final days. Cherish what time you have to get your affairs in order." The angel vanished. The sky started to flare. Whatever was going on with the seals was going to take effect sooner than they thought.

Neku looked at Hanekoma, "Did you know about this? Did you know that kid had an angel in him?"

Hanekoma couldn't smile, "Even if I did, I couldn't have told you."

Neku was mad, "If there's an angel that wants to destroy Shibuya, you better tell me!"

Hanekoma said something simple, "I'm an angel, Neku. I'm on your side. But not every angel is."

Neku wanted an answer, "Who is he?"

Hanekoma put it simply, "That was my boss. And right now, he's your biggest problem."

XXX

Author's Notes- Finally got around to editing. I cut out the nonsense. But it's really hard to edit. IDK if anyone is really reading this. Part of me knows it's important, but at the same time I'm having trouble sticking to it. I intend to finish editing (or more like rewriting) the next 3 chapters before I make the final chapter. I hope somebody somewhere is enjoying the changes.


	12. Week Two, Day Five: Why press on?

(Finished, edited and rewritten. Two more chapters to go until I write the final chapter. The more I look back the more I see this sort of editing is necessary. Again I apologize for not doing this right the first time. But there was a noticeable difference between the end and the beginning. I can't apologize enough. Thank you for your patience. Right now I'm going to make a callout to all who might be interested in beta reading the final chapter. Send me a PM if you'd like to Beta for the final chapter. I'll take names down early and pm you the forum where I'll work on it.)

**Week 2, Day Five: Why press on?**

Neku didn't like the situation at all. It was all so cleverly planned, so dangerous and yet so simple. Neku had met his match, he may very well soon be defeated. Shiki looked at him with sad eyes and yet a giggling mouth. Never had she seen something so humiliating yet hilarious. Neku screamed at last as the tailor dressed him up, "Mokoto! I will have your head for this!"

Neku had been beaten by Mokoto yet again, the manager apologized, "Neku… this was bound to happen sooner or later. We found a way to buy the Cosmo Corner immediately, but we still needed you to go in there and sign the form. You're the company owner, it has to be you."

Neku walked out of the dressing room to reveal his current attire. He wore sparkly flared pants. He had a tasteless shirt with multiple peace signs on it and happy faces. He had sickening glasses that clearly belonged only in a 70s convention. His orange hair butchered into a type of afro. It wasn't worth it, nothing was worth it, well except maybe Shiki laughing. But Neku didn't see that as encouragement.

"You look great, sir." Mokoto kept a straight face, but even the tailor couldn't stop from passing out from laughter. Yes Neku was about to sign a deal for to finally beat Mr. 'I ain't sellin'.

Neku wanted vengeance, to think that Mokoto forced him to dress up in some barf worthy getup. Just so he could ensure the deal was signed. Neku didn't want this he was being forced into it. Mokoto was forcing him. Using the same two burly men as before, no less. Seriously if he had any spare time he might have looked them up or avoided this from happening. This was stupid, what with the game and all. Neku had a lot better things to do, well... he didn't really. But he sure as hell didn't want to wear some crappy 70s outfit.

"Luckily the Cosmo Corner is next door. Try to act like you aren't ashamed and it'll help." Mokoto wouldn't fail this time.

Mokoto long since remembered that hipster's words, 'I only sell to people with style.' Obviously the man had no taste, but that was the key. If he could prove Neku had style then he'd sell.

Neku had tried everything to buy that man's store. That old man never sold the story or any products. He only sold to people with "style" which no one had. Month after month the old fart somehow managed to stay in business without actually getting any business done. His bills? Payed. His business? Unprofitable. His customers? There were none. What was worse is that Darklit had been secretly buying a number of key properties and this one was necessary. They'd have the whole block and be ready to start a brand new renovation of Dogenzaka.

It was the last store in the Dokenzaka and Neku needed to have it. But what he didn't need was this getup. Shiki tried to support him by not laughing. The key word was try. Occasionally he'd look her way and she'd compose herself. But the moment Neku went out of the room she'd start a giggle fit.

The walk was like a walk of shame. The president of Darklit entertainment? Reduced to this? Laughable. The burly men had to drag poor Neku. But at this point Neku didn't even struggle. He was like a man who willingly walked to the gallows.

Once in the Cosmo Corner to hear a, "Hey man… I don't believe it." The store owner said in amazement. His lawyer was ready. Neku's lawyers were ready. They needed to get this bitch signed.

For those of you wondering if the lawyers laughed? They didn't. Lawyers don't have souls, they can't laugh.

The store owner was a 70s washup. Probably hoping to bring some small amount of grove into Shibuya. Hoping that one day his stuff would be so out that it flipped around and became in... somehow?

Mokoto entered wearing some 'funky' shades, "Sir, as you promised, will you sign to a man who has style?"

The managers and lawyers swallowed, would it work? The lawyers wanted this to be done. They wanted their payday and to get out of this dump. Did Mokoto's mad plan have a chance? Was Neku choking on his own vomit? Neku was gagging at this point. The outfit was so bad and the smell of the store made him gag. He looked like he stepped on a landmine inside a 70s convention. The necklace he wore was too tight. It was choking him. The perfume he was forced to wear smelled like old. That must have been the brand name: old.

In short too much longer and he'd die choking on his own vomit. They had to hurry before the president died.

The old store keeper saw this and smiled, "This man has style. I'll sign."

Thank Jesus, Bhudda, Allah, Shiva or whoever the hell was left! Thank the all the possible gods of Olympus!

Shiki was quick to give her husband a bottle of vodka so he'd last a little longer. If he was a little drunk maybe he'd pass out from this misery. You might say Neku was being a big baby, but honestly Shiki wouldn't wear that crap. If someone forced her into that... well... she'd be doing a lot worse.

Neku drank hoping that alcohol poisoning would kill him. Maybe if he died he'd have to play the game again instead of shit shit. He drank deliberately too fast to the point where his throat burned. Someone had to snatch the bottle before he broke it over his own head. Foiled again. Apparently this wasn't the first time the boss tried to kill himself.

Tin Pin was about the only other thing that made the president suicidal. After you got past the swearing, struggling and death threats he actually got pretty tame. But right now it was best to keep sharp objects away from the president. He had enough to drink. He needed a chaser and a pen. They needed to get this crap wrapped up before he went into another fit of rage.

Mokoto actually did a decent amount of planning. He got Shiki to make sure he didn't get too out of control. One pleading look from her and he'd have to calm down. He made sure there was something to drink so that he'd be too incapacitated to run away or do anything too stupid too quickly. Note that if someone is drunk it doesn't stop people from doing stupid things, it just slows down how fast they can pull it off. With Neku drunk he'd be unable to think of logical escape plans. After that Mokoto just needed too burly men to hold him down and force him to wear the most tasteless 70s outfit and BLAM! They've got a deal for sure.

Mokoto's plan was working even though later he might face the wrath of his boss. Neku would thank him later when Mokoto let him have at the place with a flamethrower. It might take something that drastic.

Mokoto handed the papers to the old man and smiled, "Mr. Sakuraba and I are more than happy to be here. We've taken every care to see that you're comfortable with this signing."

The old man nodded, "Hey man, I'll even give you a discount. This guy just drank a whole bottle of vodka in front of me, that's guts. That's style. This man has more style than me."

Neku rose up in a drunken stupor, "Everyone has more style than you! Where's the damn pen so I can stab myself?"

The old man lightly laughed thinking he was joking. His eyes were shut while he laughed. But Neku really was trying to grab the pen so he could stab his own throat. The burly men kept him from getting the pen and Shiki soothed him into a calm before he could hurt himself. "You're alright, Sakuraba. I misjudged you. You got style and a sense of humor." Luckily the thrashing stopped by the time he opened his eyes.

The old man signed. Now it was Neku's turn.

He handed Neku the pen. Neku looked around in a daze as if wondering what they wanted him to do.

Mokoto motioned towards the pen.

"So... I can grab the pen now?" Neku asked genuinely unsure of where he was now.

Shiki grabbed it for him and handed it to him. "You're pretty." Neku blurted out.

Mokoto motioned towards the paper.

Neku looked at the paper. He looked at the pen. He looked at the paper than he looked at the pen again. "Who's signing again?"

The old man laughed. "This guy is killer. I know he'll take good care of the place."

Neku looked around at the store. "I will?"

Mokoto was getting angry at this point. Neku was worse than the local drunk on the subway, "Just sign the damed thing!"

The old man told Mokoto, "Chillax man. You're getting all tense. Take a look at this guy. This is a guy who's in control of himself."

Neku finally realized, "Oh damn! I gotta sign! Alright! Signed!"

Neku signed the table.

Shiki put his hand on the line. "Try again."

This time it worked.

About three more signatures later. Each took multiple attempts.

"No, don't sign the date."

"No, Neku on the line."

"Why are you drawing a pig?"

"Heheh... it's Mr. Mew."

"Neku if you don't sign this paperwork I'm not going with you to the roof tonight."

Neku immediately signed all remaining papers really fast without fail.

Mokoto asked, "What happens on the roof?"

Shiki blushed and Neku gave a thumbs up, "It's like being in the quarter mile high club!"

Shiki looked around innocently, "Umm... we should be going." It was fine to let everyone speculate what happens on the roof.

Mokoto helped pick up Neku and sent the burly men away. The lawyers could take care of the rest. "You did good Neku, how about some Ramen?"

Neku moaned, "You're buying."

Mokoto nodded, "Sure."

Neku made a glare, "You're buying forever."

Sadly... that might be true.

XXXX

What happened yesterday? Good question.

The short version was this: The angel vanished and there was no way to find him. Hanekoma said it wouldn't be possible to find him and Joshua believed him. Sensing an angel was different than sensing a human. Human's usually couldn't sense an angel unless the angel was ready to fight.

So that left dealing with the Noise. Joshua inspected some of the Noise seals. He had asked Hanekoma to explain what they had done to modify it.

Hanekoma was looking into it. Apparently it wasn't as simple as just erasing what they changed. He said he needed to make a counter seal on each one Okami dead. Joshua wanted an explanation.

"Basically these seals absorb Noise. Breaking them the wrong way would be worse than letting them work. A counter seal is necessary to disable them. But I'd have to put the counter seal on each one. But if he sets the seals off early then we're going to have to deal with whatever Noise they've gathered. Do you just want to see if we can fight the Noise?"

Joshua shook his head. Definitely not. The angel yesterday said he wanted to destroy Shibuya. Angels weren't stupid. They were smarter than most humans hell... some were smarter than him. He had a way of doing it. Joshua's task was simple in theory but going to be hard to pull off. Stop him. Joshua knew he was up an against an angel, nothing else. He didn't know the angel's plan and he didn't see all the pieces on the chessboard. He had to stop an officer class angel who knew everything about Joshua, Shibuya, the players and the Noise. Great.

Fortunately the angel seemed to be inactive for the last couple of hours. Joshua just needed to check a few things.

Okami was nearly done, all of his hard work was about to pay off, "This is the last seal? We found it, girl." Okami forgot that his wolf was no longer with him. He looked at empty space where his pet always stood and he had to remember he gave her away.

"Serenade." Okami said as he worked. He missed her, but he remembered what Charon told him.

_The power you seek comes with a price._

"_What price?"_

_You must remove what makes you weak before you can obtain power._

"_What makes me weak?! How do I become like you?! Strong! I want power!"_

_The last remaining remnants of your humanity. As long as you continue to be human you shall find no further power. You must sacrifice the very thing that gives you ambition. You must cleanse yourself of your humanity. Your companion is your price._

"_Serenade?"_

_Answer. Will you give that which you hold dear for power? Accept and we will teach you of power no human will know._

"_We? There's more than one of you? There's someone you work for?"_

_Answer._

"_..."_

_You hesitate._

"_What power do you offer me?"_

_Answer._

"_I accept."_

_Then my master will see you. We will add your strength to our own. In return we offer you power. Embrace your newfound power. In time you will learn to use it._

"_I can feel my Soul power. But I'm not strong enough. I'm nowhere near strong enough."_

_There is much power to be drawn from the Noise. In time you may add their strength to your own as I do._

"_But... if I were to combine the power of Noise to my Soul."_

_It is a poison to a normal human soul. But in time you will draw and shape Noise as you see fit. Such power is necessary for what comes next._

"_What comes next?"_

_Shibuya's end. Go. You'll receive further instructions on your phone. Obey and more power shall be yours._

It was a fitting price, it's what he cared about most. "So be it." Okami modified the seal by placing his hand on the Conductor's work. He flowed his Soul power into and shifted the several markings and added others. He didn't even know fully what he was doing, but he knew his orders. He could feel the difference. The seal became something else. Like the polarity of a magnet changing. It was subtle, but it was different.

Okami stepped back and made one last modification. On his phone he took a picture of the seal. The moment he took a picture the flash created an illusion of sorts. The camera flash made the floor appear normal to the untrained eye. To a normal human, they couldn't see it. To the Conductor it'd appear as if the seal remained unchanged. Okami's new boss had a number of gadgets like this. A phone with a camera flash that could create illusions. Okami's work was to go unnoticed. Illusions from a camera flash were necessary to enure that the Conductor or Reapers would not interfere. As long as they didn't look closely or see him working they'd never know.

"And just what the factor do you think you're doing, radian?" Sho appeared behind him with one hand in his pocket and another on his cap. The glare was that of an animal observing prey. Alert to which way it might run.

Okami turned with terror, "You weren't supposed to be here! How did you catch my scent?"

Sho made an amused grunt before replying, "Please excuse my dear aunt sally. Your making a change to the Composer's perfectly calculated art. Trying to be greater than infinity? Impossible, a yoctogram such as yourself could never hope to reach my skill."

Okami for some reason understood what he was saying despite the fact he never understood before, "Your bark is bigger than your bite! You are no longer the alpha male! I have joined a new pack! A pack that is stronger than yours! I intend to destroy this city! Your power isn't infinite, it never will be. My power… shall grow indefinitely and with Charon's help I'll obtain the power to destroy this dog eat dog world."

Sho cackled and revealed his taboo seal on his hand, "Stupid to the hundredth power! What hope does a helpless hectopascal have? Do that math! It doesn't matter how strong you might be theoretically. Right now you're dead. That makes you zero!"

Okami looked at the seal and grimaced. There wasn't going to be an easy way to get out of this, if a fight ensued, he'd lose. Only with the power Charon promised could he hope to defeat the Conductor. Not to mention Serenade couldn't back him up. "This beaten dog still has teeth." Okami had no options left.

"Gentlemen, behave yourself."

Okami heard that voice before. But something was odd. Okami could smell a player a quarter mile away. But he couldn't sense someone standing right behind him.

Sho Minamimoto turned his head, "What the factor is this little factoid doing here?"

The voice belonged to Weiss, but something was definitely a little off about it, "I've just had a long talk with your superior… it seems that he and I are in agreement." Weiss was the same as he usually was except his eyes were silver now. Glowing silver no less. To the unskilled observer his Soul was undetectable. But that's because most Reapers didn't know how to sense anything except Noise and Player's Soul power. This was different. Sho could feel it. It wasn't human power. It was something else. And it was massive.

"Okami, stand down. I'd like to speak to him personally."

Okami didn't take orders from him. He growled. "And why should I do that?"

Weiss cocked his head and kept a fake look of curiosity on his face, "Do you not want to destroy Shibuya?"

Sho turned his attention to Weiss, "You're not the yoctogram I met on the first week…"

Weiss sighed. It seemed some humans could sense the power of an officer class angel. "How astute. Yes, I'm not the human you barely knew. When you saw me, or more accurately my host. He's had his memories and Soul modified as necessary, but for the most part we were able to keep him consistant. He's been an excellent tool as an observer, but right now the Director has granted me permission to use observer for my personal use. More recently we modified Weiss to align himself perfectly with Thanatos. It's quite a chore to modify a Soul. I don't know why anyone would put up with it. But... overall your partner can affect your power, so it's best to get along with them. But… That has no relevance with either of you, does it? No, of course not… but I thought the explanation necessary in order for you to understand who you're speaking to. I am an angel. I am the Agent of the Director. You may call me by title."

Weiss took a bow before his silver eyes went up to Sho Minamimoto. It was the same look Sho gave Okami a moment earlier.

"Sho Minamimoto you are the strongest reaper under the Composer's power. But you deserve better deal. Joshua keeps you in chains. Chains I can break. You are a free spirit. You are a Reaper who obtained the power of the Taboo. That means you're not the type who can be controlled. I offer a valuable salvation. I will remove the chains the Composer put on you. I offer you power in exchange for a little of your time. Are you interested?"

Sho didn't answer. He just looked at his hand. There was a timer on his hand. A timer Joshua made personally. Someone like Sho wouldn't willingly work for Joshua so the Composer had an idea to make him behave. The timer was a simple deterrent. If Sho betrayed Joshua, the timer would start ticking. If Sho double crossed Joshua in any way, it would start ticking. Sho would have about half an hour to live if he ever betrayed Joshua. That kept him from betraying Joshua. At least until he found a way to break the timer.

But here before Sho was someone who might be able to break it. Was he bluffing? Was this a test? Did it matter?

"You aren't owned by Joshua. Nothing ever could own you. I offer a partnership. If you help me, I will remove your timer and Joshua dies."

Sho kept silent.

Okami spoke instead, "Where is Charon? Do you work for him as well?"

The Agent was the one in charge, not Charon. While it was true Charon was more powerful in terms of Soul, that didn't mean he called the shots. "He works for me, Okami. As do you."

Okami didn't understand, "But, you're a player."

Sho put it another way, "Simplify it, Okami. Cross out the disguise and you'll get your answer. This is an angel we're talking to."

Okami was thick, but it started making sense, "So... that's how."

Weiss gave him that usual Weiss smile. But this one wasn't genuine. Somehow the angel made it more annoying, "How I defeated you? How I cheated my way into the game? How Charon showed up every time I needed evidence removed or a Reaper erased? How every time someone looked at this human's soul I could choose at any time to manipulate him? Indeed. There is no more reason to hide. The Director has given me full authority to use this body until the end of the week. Bodies that can hold an officer class angel are in short supply."

Okami shook his head, "I wanted power from Charon, not you! I wanted to become strong! I wanted to kill the Composer! I wanted to destroy Shibuya!"

The Agent smiled as Okami shouted. He seemed to never stop smiling, "I brought you here. I gave you power you'll need it. Okami, in time you will have the power of a Conductor. I will guarantee that if you follow my instructions you'll become a Conductor."

Okami seemed delighted at the idea at first, but that was only at first. His gaze turned to Sho. "What of him? I respect Sho! Even if we are enemies now, would not take a title from someone who is clearly my alpha."

Agent nodded, "He will make a worthy Conductor, wouldn't you agree?"

Sho seemed to catch on, "He would."

Agent was glad Sho understood, "My deal is simple. I need both of your assistance. As I am an angel, I have no need for the Composer title or the power that comes with it. My mission is to destroy Shibuya and the Composer. You sought to kill the Composer once in the past."

Sho heard enough, "How do we kill him?"

The Agent was surprised. But then he shouldn't have been. Sho wanted to kill the Composer. Sho wanted to be free of the Composer's rules and the Composer's game. Sho didn't want to be Conductor. In his mind he was greater than everything. He was better than gravity, better than time and better than Joshua. He was in on this Angel's plan.

The silver eyed angel extended his hand. "Start by taking my hand."

Sho walked up and slapped his hand into the angel's. No dramatic pause or anything. Just basically a downstairs five. After he touched the angel the timer on his hand shattered into static. It looked like this angel was who he said he was. Breaking a Composer's timer required skill. Or just enough raw Soul power to break it. Sho never managed to build up enough power to break it. But this angel did it fairly effortlessly.

Sho looked at his hand and double checked the timer was fully gone. "I'll hear out your plan, that's it."

Okami agreed, "I will hear you out as well. I've already involved myself this far."

It seems the carrot he offered was enough. Okami was an added bonus. He didn't expect Charon of all people to recruit someone. The angel seemed to have things under control for now.

The Agent put it simply, "Follow my instructions and you'll survive the coming chaos. Listen close."

XXX

Thanatos didn't sleep, how could he? He had a chance to be erased and it was denied of him once again. At least for the moment, the ticking timer on his hand made him smile.

_That's right, at the end of the week I'm supposed to have to make a choice whether to live or die._

It was only a little while longer. He had to last the week, that was it. Thanatos had company.

The Composer seemed to show up as he awoke, "Sleep well?"

Thanatos got up from the street and leaned against the wall, "No. what's up with Weiss?"

Joshua found it amusing he'd ask, "He's become a thorn in my side."

Thanatos wanted to see the bigger picture, "And just what could be a thorn in your side?"

Joshua shook his head, "An angel. One with a working knowledge of Shibuya and in possession of a human. This human must have been controlled by the said angel for some time. Meaning that his threat to destroy Shibuya wouldn't be a shallow one. It's my nature to assume the worst."

Thanatos let it go; it's not because he didn't understand. He simply didn't care, he just kept looking at his timer. It was all going to end soon enough. Why should he care about any of this crap? He honestly didn't care what happened to Shibuya. He still just wanted to die.

Joshua waited patiently for Hanekoma to arrive, the thought occurred to him to give Hanekoma a call. But then Hanekoma didn't need to be rushed on something like this. Hanekoma had always been a valuable ally. But this wasn't the first time Joshua had to question Hanekoma. Six years ago Hanekoma indirectly tried to get him killed. Hanekoma broke rules in order to give Sho Minamimoto a slight chance of killing Joshua. An ordinary Composer wouldn't be alive. The reason Joshua was alive now was because he was paranoid and he doubted everything. Joshua never shared just how powerful he was. Just how much Soul power he'd manage to conserve.

Within a few minutes of silent waiting Hanekoma returned with a huff. "I've examined the seal, they've modified it where Sho wouldn't even notice the difference. It took a while, but I was able to remove what they used to hide it. Basically it looks like our angelic friend gave Okami some serious illusion mojo. My guess it's similar to what I did to your phone. Instead of taking pictures of time, it creates an illusion based on what the seal was 10 minutes before the modification."

Joshua finally got some good news: facts, "Anything else?"

Hanekoma caught his breath. Apparently he got tired more easily since he lost a portion of his angel power, "By the looks of it, they're going to create a noise using the Conductor's measuring seals. They're only using a portion of the measured Noise. The rest is being stored for later use."

Joshua thought about the implications, there was a chance that they were created a synthetic Noise. He needed the odds of that, "What percent of the noise measured are they going to use? Also what are the odds of the other noise reacting violently or being out of control? How likely would it be to cause other Noise to run rampant."

Hanekoma had to do some math in his head. And if Hanekoma had to pause to think about it, it meant is was too complicated for most humans to comprehend, "Basically… they're gonna use about 5% of the measured noise… the likelihood of that affecting the others is… well about 25% chance. The Noise for the most part will remain above Shibuya and will not become aggressive."

For Joshua that was 25% too high. Sure it was just a 1 in four, but that was waaayyy too much for any Composer to allow.

He needed to stop that before a disaster took place. He kept calm. "I should be able to destroy a noise of that power. Thanatos, are you sure Weiss was talking to Charon on the phone?"

Thanatos gave him an annoyed look, "Your memory going bad? You heard me yesterday. He I think he was talking to Charon, I don't have real proof. "

Joshua couldn't erase Weiss personally. But he could probably manage to get someone to kill him. He had many Reapers that might be up for the task. He could always ask Neku, but that proved difficult.

"I'll have to ask Neku to Erase Weiss. It's the only sure way to ensure Shibuya's safety."

Hanekoma thought Joshua might say that. That's when Nanami came out from behind the corner.

"Is that really OK? Killing Weiss would be wrong." Nanami said doing an angry strut towards Joshua.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't matter about right or wrong. I wouldn't be a Composer if I allowed Shibuya to come to danger. The best thing to do would be to erase Weiss and be done with it."

Nanami slapped him. "You're despicable."

Joshua shrugged, "Pretty much. But that's why I'm Composer and you're not. Composer's always protect their territory."

Nanami was mad, "You're a coward. You didn't protect your territory 6 years ago!"

Joshua just flatly told her, "Shibuya was going to die anyway! At least if I did it, the rest of Japan wouldn't die in the process! I have to watch more than just Shibuya. I'm taking into account all the lives that will be impacted by my actions. I spared Shibuya and now we're seeing the result. The Noise are out of control."

Nanami was confused, "Well just... erase them?"

Hanekoma chimed in, "Nanami, the Noise are somewhere no one can reach. They've basically merged themselves with Shibuya to the point you can't erase one without the other. If we separated the Noise from Shibuya we'd have an all out war. A war the angels think we'd lose. Right now the angels are in the process of testing if we're ready for the Noise."

Nanami blinked. Angels? This was new. The first instinct was to ask, about the angels, but instead she cut more to the point, "So who decides if we're ready?"

Hanekoma told her flatly, "The Agent. He's an officer class Angel who's just barely weaker than a Composer. He reports to the Director and he's given abilities to see on multiple planes. He has the ability to look at the past and has command over whatever area he's in at the moment. Normally he'd be ordering me around, but I'm something of an exception."

Joshua seemed pained by the idea, "It's because you're not a full angel anymore."

Hanekoma didn't seem proud of that, "Well... I lost most of my powers. But one of the perks of no longer being a Producer means I'm not expected to be given orders. I'm also still obligated to some degree to aid the Composer. My task I was given by the Director was to aid the Composer, draw talent to Shibuya and assist with the game. Even the Agent can't order me to stop. If the Director gives an order, it's final."

Joshua actually learned something. "So basically the Agent can't give you an order that would contradict your job. Also he doesn't trust you to actually help him so he just expects you to stay out of the way."

Hanekoma nodded, "Yes, so regardless of what he wants, I'm on your side. Still... I can't directly confront him. Even if you wanted me to."

Joshua didn't expect Hanekoma to do that, "I understand. Keep bringing information to my attention. I'll need to deal with Weiss.

Nanami got upset, "Weiss isn't that angel!"

Joshua cocked his head, "If he's not an angel then what is he?"

Nanami answered, "Human. Weiss is human. He's just being controlled right now."

Joshua found he pitifully naïve. "He's an angel. You were duped. He's not really a person. He's just a construct the angels made to spy on us."

Nanami didn't buy that a second, "But why would he have feelings then? Why would he have his own soul?"

Joshua was done arguing, "To keep me from noticing sooner. We're done here. Hanekoma, I leave her in your care, as agreed."

Before Nanami could protest Joshua vanished. Leaving her to let out a frustrated huff. He was wrong and she knew it.

XXX

Joshua had an idea what was going on. Joshua needed to get some answers. Answers he couldn't get from Hanekoma.

"Charon!"

Joshua approached the suited man standing right next to one of the measuring seals. He sipped a coffee cup. It was still hot. Probably right off the pot, but he drank the fresh coffee hot.

Charon answered, "Composer. I was expecting you."

Joshua put it simply, "Tell me what you know about the Agent."

Charon smiled and nodded, "I will. You are the Composer after all. That makes you my superior."

Joshua didn't need to remind him of that. "Spill, everything you can. There's no way in hell you like this guy."

Charon nodded, "I don't. If there were a way to screw him over I'd do it."

Joshua smiled, "I might be able to help with that."

Charon sipped his coffee and nodded. He took off his glasses and revealed his eyes. "I doubt that."

Joshua immediately felt it. He wasn't going anywhere. "Charon what is this?"

Charon looked around the area, "A trap of sorts. You see my boss told me to detain you when I saw you. He said to kill you if you resisted. It didn't matter if you came to me or not. I was told to come find you in five minutes anyway."

Joshua was Composer, he could fight and possibly kill Charon. But Charon was his parole officer. He was security. He was the dog angels sent when EXTREMELY powerful beings needed to be dealt with. You don't send an attack dog like Charon without him having enough bite to handle a Composer.

His powers included: Summoning Fallen Noise. That was how he handled the weaker beings. Reapers, players and whoever wasn't worth his actual attention. He wouldn't use those on Joshua. It'd be a waste of time on someone like the Composer. Composers were practically gods. The Fallen were what he'd use if he didn't want to kill you.

The next power Charon had was his imprint: Move along. It was a powerful imprint that made humans ignore him and everything about his business. Something like that had no effect on Joshua and no relevance to this situation.

The other power Charon were his barriers. Normal people couldn't break them and even abnormal people couldn't teleport through them. Not even the Composer. He could trap anyone. Even a Composer. That's what happened now. He must have put those barriers up while they were talking. Charon could hop alright and teleport like Joshua too. So even if Joshua somehow got away, Charon could chase him.

Another power Charon had was tracking people that had considerable power. Joshua would be easy to find. Joshua could think of few ways to avoid Charon. It was possible, but he'd have to prepare something like that. Hanekoma might have a way, but not right now.

Charon could find and corner Joshua at any time. But Joshua should have known it would have been now. The Agent was Charon's boss. But if he wanted Charon to kill Joshua, this wasn't how. You'd just trigger Joshua's timer. Or hell you'd bring more than Charon just to be sure.

Charon told Joshua, "Just holding you here. My orders were to keep you here. Nothing more. Don't resist and there won't be a problem."

Joshua rolled his eyes, "No... see Charon we already have a problem. You see while I'm in here with you, your boss is doing who knows what with my city."

Charon smiled, "I know what he's doing."

Joshua looked up. "What?"

Charon didn't like his boss. He didn't like Joshua, but he REALLY didn't like his boss. "Would you like to know? Would you like to know what I know?"

Joshua nodded slowly, "I think I would."

XXX

Thanatos sat miserably. He looked up at the sky and just shook his head. His one chance to die and he was cheated out of it.

"Weiss... what the shit happened? Are you really an angel?"

Thanatos shook his head and knew better. Weiss may be a boring ball of crap, but he was a human. Thanatos tried to kill him and didn't even give it a second thought. Hell if he got the chance he'd kill to get his price back. He wanted to die. But he felt bad for what he did. He wasn't sorry. But he felt bad.

He remembered. Something Weiss said. That at the end of the week he'd have a choice whether to live or die... What was that about?

"You're his partner right?"

Thanatos looked up. It was that chick Weiss was with. His old partner. Her name was...

"Nanami?"

Nanami was in front of him. Looking down at him. She looked really pissed off.

"Did you try to kill Weiss?"

Thanatos blinked, "Yeah."

"Why?"

Thanatos told her flatly, "Joshua promised me my price. Wanted me to erase Weiss. I tried."

Nanami gave him a hard glare, but Thanatos took it.

Silence.

More Silence.

"No, I'm not sorry. I want my price back. I don't give a damn about anything else before that. Not you, not him and not anyone. So if you got something to say, say it."

Nanami didn't have a price that mattered that much to her. Not worth killing for.

Nanami looked down at him, "Don't try to kill Weiss again."

Thanatos rolled his eyes, "He's a bad guy alright. He's like some super angel here to destroy Shibuya, you included."

Nanami didn't believe that, "No... he isn't an angel he's human."

Thanatos felt it too. He was definitely human. It was something only a pact could tell you. She was right. He was human, he felt human. But why did that matter so much to her, "What does it matter if he's human or not? What's it to you?"

Nanami put it as simply as she should, "We should help him."

"Why?"

"Because I think humans should help one another."

Thanatos shook his head. "Just what I need in the morning... another idealist."

Nanami started leaving, "I think the reason you want to die is that you're selfish."

Thanatos groaned, "You're damned right is is. Beat it."

Then the phone beeped. A mission? Who gave out a mission? Why was there a mission?

___Erase the master noise of Molco. T= 90_

___Your speed noise_

___Your power noise_

___Noise me_

**_-The Condutor_**

XXX

Week 2 Day 5: Why press on?

Kariya didn't need to ask so Uzuki did, "Who made this mission?"

Kariya sighed a sigh worthy only of a man who's day had been completely obliterated by a stupid question. Uzuki blinked a bit as Kariya rubbed both of his eyes, resisting the urge to slap his own hand on his face. "There's just some things… you don't impersonate."

Uzuki did have a reason to think it wasn't the Conductor, "But Sho wouldn't make a mission like this. He's got orders from the Composer not to touch missions."

Kariya decided not to even argue the point. "We need to get to Molco." That was the surest way of seeing who's work this was.

Uzuki actually thought that was a good idea, "Yeah so we can see what's really going on. What should we do when we find the noise."

Kariya wished he could answer. His mind flooded with possibilities of what he could be up against. If Sho wrote the mission then it meant that the Composer was in on it, unless he missed something. The Composer wasn't above giving out unplanned missions or making the Conductor do it. Kariya actually was on standby waiting to hear from Joshua.

His phone rang.

It wasn't Joshua.

Kotori was making the call, "Hello? Lazy guy speaking."

He listened to the phone, nodded and then moved the phone away from his ear to avoid yelling. Kotori apparently needed to give banshee lessons to women who couldn't scream loud enough. Kariya looked around to find a place to put down the phone and put a new lollipop in his mouth. He picked the phone back up when the shouting died down. He picked up the phone again and responded without knowing what Kotori said, "That's interesting."

Kotori didn't have time for bullshit, "Look… just get to Molco. There's a Noise here that I've never seen before… I can't say anyone has seen it before. I think this is what Okami was working on."

Kariya nodded at that, "If the Conductor made the mission. That means either Joshua told him to do it… or..."

Kotori didn't want to rationalize it, "The Conductor wouldn't betray the Composer."

Kariya found that rich, "He wouldn't? How long have you known him again? He'd betray all of us in a second if it suited him. Hell…who wouldn't?"

Kotori hung up and folded her arms. She knew he was right, but, "We're going to need help on this one…" Kotori picked up her phone to dial another number. She attempted to call Hanekoma, but it failed with her phone saying that the number she was calling was unavailable. Calling the Hanekoma had nothing to do with cell phone signal, nor was it capable for his number to be unavailable. Something was very wrong with the day. First the Conductor and now there was no way to contact the producer. She checked with all the reapers and the Composer wasn't anywhere to be found either. "What's causing all this? Why can't I get anyone to pick up?"

Who else should she call or look for?

Charon? Come to think of it she never did actually ask him what he was up to. What was he up to again? She remembered seeing something and then... Dammit! He got her! That's right. Her memeory got all blurred up after Charon said something. What was it? She dare not remember, she needed to find him. Maybe he'd have a clue of what needed to be done.

There was a chance Charon could get rid of her, but it was worth the risk.

XXXX

The Agent put up his phone. Apparently he just got off the phone with Charon. "So he's sitting quietly? Good. Very good. I'm going to proceed."

The agent listened. But you couldn't hear another voice on the other end. Okami and Sho both had great ears. Neither of them heard the slightest sound coming from the other end.

Okami listened closely and asked, "How is we cannot hear what they say? There are sounds dogs can hear but not humans. I should be able to hear it."

Sho put it simply, "Follow the basic principles, it adds up. They don't need to talk to communicate."

Weiss turned around with his glasses off. He looked at the phone. "No, Joshua hasn't given up. Joshua's going to watch and look for weakness. But that's good. I want him to watch."

The angel hung up. "Well boys, the one person who could get in our way is nice and locked up. As promised."

Sho nodded, "You are certain he can't escape?"

"Not without dying."

Okami had trouble believing that. "If you could kill the Composer so easily? Why not simply do it."

The Agent put it as simply as he could, "Let's just say the more powerful you are... the more rules you have to follow. Joshua is a genius at finding loopholes or going unpunished, but if he slips up one more time he's a dead man. The Director made sure of that. But the Director is seeing my point of view. He allowed me four days to prove to him Shibuya was beyond saving."

Okami asked, "You think it's beyond saving?"

The Agent nodded, "I intend to prove it. Shibuya will be destroyed. From the ashes a new Shibuya will come. You may both be Composer and Conductor respectively."

Okami liked the idea actually, "Then I'm at your call. How shall we destroy Shibuya?"

The Agent looked towards the seal Okami had been working on. "I told you, Okami. We need to run a little test first. Although Joshua's out of the way for now there's still a few people who might pose a problem."

Sho took a guess, "The other officers."

The Agent nodded, "But fortunately those can be dealt with easily enough. Okami, how much longer?"

Okami looked at the seal and felt it with his hand, "Not long."

The Agent smiled, all was going according to plan. No loose ends and no one who could get in his way now. Then the Agent gave it a little thought, "Are either of you aware of any trump cards Joshua has in his possession?"

XXXX

Neku had a hard day. A really hard day. His body seemed to be rejecting him for dare making it wear something that unbelievably bad. His drunken stupor was wearing off. Mokoto had tried his best to win his good graces by buying some good ramen. Oh no, it wouldn't be that easy. Mokoto was going to be on his shit list for weeks. He was back in far more acceptable clothing and he had the rest of the time off.

"So I'm not dead. That's a plus."

Mokoto smiled. "And we got it signed. That property he had was more than a bargain."

Shiki had to make some observations, "Did he even have electricity in the store?"

"No."

"Was he making any profits?"

"No." Neku and Mokoto said in unison.

Shiki was starting to get worried, "Was he bankrupt?"

"Yes." Both said.

Shiki had to ask, "Why was he still in business?"

Mokoto shook his head, "He had money from somewhere and the tenacity of a cockroach. He just wouldn't sell that store. He kept going on about he'd only sell to someone with style."

Neku gagged. "Style..."

Shiki patted her soon to be husband. "It's OK Neku it's over now."

Neku whimpered as if he were a victim of an assault, "I thought I was going to die."

Shiki let him lean his head into her shoulder and patted his head. Shiki let him go on a few seconds then looked down at him. "You're not really upset are you?"

Neku kept his face on her shoulder, "Nope. Just like looking at your treasures."

Shiki nudged him off and asked Mokoto, "At any rate, what are your planning on doing with it."

Mokoto pulled out a folder, "A few options. As usual we were going to leave the ultimate decision to Neku. He's never been wrong about what people want. But I was thinking we could merge several of the buildings and make a large shopping center."

Neku shook his head, "Give me some time on that. I'm barely sobering."

Mokoto looked confused, "You don't have ideas?"

Neku remembered what might happen to the city. Joshua was worried. There was an angel who said he'd destroy Shibuya. Now wasn't the time for building something new. "No. And delay all construction projects for now."

Mokoto wasn't exactly sure why. "But... Neku we could build now. Why wait?"

Neku shook his head, "Trust me. Hold off on building anything new. Play it safe right now. Get insurance and the legal bullshit out of the way."

Shiki looked up at Neku. What did he know? Something game related? Shiki smiled and agreed, "Mokoto, I think he's right. Now that we have this property we might want to rethink what we'll build next. Hold off on our current construction projects in the area."

Mokoto looked at them both one at a time. Both serious. It was one of those moments where he needed to trust them, "Another one of your hunches, sir?"

Neku nodded. "Don't build anything. Make sure we're insured and make sure our legal documentation is in order. For more than just this site. All of them."

Mokoto didn't understand, "You guys sound like a disaster might be heading our way."

Shiki looked at Neku, "Do as he says. Neku's never been wrong about these sorts of things. Don't worry I'll try to change his mind."

Mokoto took his folder and pulled out his phone. "I'll leave him with you then Shiki. Consider it done. I'll double check our estates and give you an estimate on your desk in the morning." Them asking to check insurance? That never happened. Sure they had insurance. But they never really asked about it before. Double checking their property too. Neku thought something bad was going to happen.

What was on Neku's mind. Weiss. That white haired kid? An angel? The image played in his mind.

_I'm going to destroy Shibuya._

He told himself again and again. There's no way. They wouldn't do that.

Was this the threat Joshua was talking about? Was this what Joshua needed his help with? What did going against the angels even mean? Who was this guy? Who was Hanekoma? Who was Charon and who was this Director?

Hanekoma was on their side. That's all he knew. Hanekoma had to be on their side.

Shiki looked at him, "What happened the other day?"

Neku didn't know how to tell her delicately. Guess he just say it, "That kid the other day. Weiss. He said he'd destroy Shibuya. He meant it."

Shiki thought about it, "The one who partnered with Nanami?"

Neku nodded, "He's currently an angel. Makes sense I guess."

Shiki thought about it, "Well... angels have shown as humans before. Even in myths."

Neku found something really odd, "How did Joshua not notice? Any of us should have known. He was there when Rhyme was at the hospital. He's been at Hanekoma's coffee shop a few times. I just never noticed him. But when I saw his eyes... They were silver. They changed Shiki. He's possessed."

Shiki had seen enough movies about possession, "Like instead of a demon inside him there's an angel?"

Neku nodded, "An angel made that threat."

Shiki tried to comfort him, "Neku we've been through worse. I mean Joshua isn't going to allow this. A Composer could handle an angel. Hanekoma's on our side too."

Neku said what really scared him, "Hanekoma was scared. The sight of him scared Hanekoma. I've never seen Hanekoma scared. Even if only for an instant. Hanekoma's an angel too. If Hanekoma wanted to, how much damage could he do to Shibuya?"

Shiki considered it, "Even ignoring his personal strength. He could probably turn Shibuya into a place of chaos. He can invent imprints... he can modify Noise... he'd be dangerous. I know that."

Neku nodded, "This guy is worse than Hanekoma and I don't think we can just ignore this."

Shiki understood a little more, "So what can we do?"

Neku and Shiki weren't players anymore. They couldn't see the mission mail. They didn't know what to be looking for. All they could do now was wait.

They waited.

Then just as they were about to leave they met Nanami. She said only one thing, "I need your help."

XXXX

The Conductor making a mission? That didn't sound like something Sho was ordered to do by the Composer. Most Reapers wouldn't assume that Sho went rogue. But if you think about it, you'd notice that Sho was never on the Composer's side. There were a lot of unknowns and this would be the perfect time to double cross all the power players of Shibuya. Joshua was up against something new: Angels. Just one was enough to tip the scale. Kotori tried to move and think calmly at the same time. Leave it to women to multitask that well.

What she knew: This new angel wanted to destroy Shibuya.

Weiss was the one carrying the said angel.

The angel had a working knowledge of Shibuya and knew about important players or Reapers.

He knew about Sho and he knew about Okami.

Joshua was not personally allowed to erase this angel.

It stood to reason that the angel would convert officers to his own agenda. Sho would be the first target and Okami would be the second. Who came next? Her? Perhaps. If the Agent got all the Reaper officers on his side it wouldn't matter what Joshua did. Joshua needed his officers now to deal with this.

Kotori put more thought into it. Now she needed to figure out how exactly he was going to destroy Shibuya. As far as she knew there were three forces capable of destroying Shibuya: Noise, the Composer and Angels.

The Noise weren't attacking right now, but maybe they could be tempted into starting their assault early?

Kotori didn't know how any of that worked so she had to move on. But that was definitely a possibility. She'd need data from Hanekoma later.

The second way to destroy Shibuya was the Composer. There's no way the Composer would do such a thing on purpose. But maybe turning everything he loved against him? That sounded cruel, but something an Angel might try. No, the angel needed something more concrete. Predicting Joshua worked about as well as... there was no example it just never happened.

The angels erasing shibuya seemed more likely. But from what it sounded like, they needed permission from a Director. Joshua spoke of this Director many times in secret. The Director was the one who put the timer on Joshua's hand. Apparently there were ways of setting this guy off. The Director being an angel leader, he probably had enough power to turn Shibuya into ash. What would set him off? One of them was Joshua erasing that angel and one of them was the Noise making their move.

Then something occurred to her. She didn't hear exactly what the Director said, what she knew was secondhand. But she had to call Hanekoma and ask a question.

"Hanekoma?"

"Kotori? Now isn't a good time."

"What were the Director's words exactly?"

Hanekoma could answer that. So he sent Kotori a text.

**_You have until the end of the week. Continue with the game and the missions. You have tried to harm an innocent player. I will no longer protect you from the wrath of my angels. You will be tested. I will be watching. If you fail. If you or any of the forces you command erase this child, I will reign destruction upon Shibuya. The world ends with you, farewell._**

Kotori noticed, "You have tried to harm an innocent player?... Weiss?"

Hanekoma hung up.

Kotori took an interest in that. Innocent player? Weiss was an angel, right? Weiss wasn't a player, not really. Unless...

Kotori sighed, "Weiss is human. It's as Nanami said. Erasing the Weiss isn't the problem it's erasing the angel that possesses him. The Director apparently doesn't like innocents being erased."

Kotori smiled that sounded familiar. She had to shake her head to forget that thought.

Kotori made it to Joshua. There was a barrier in their way. "Composer! I've been looking for you. We need your assistance. We have reason to believe."

Joshua cut her off, "Gather the Reapers. Gather the players. Send everything we have against that Noise. When that's been arranged find Shiki, Neku, Beat and Rhyme."

Kotori nodded, "Sir I believe that the angel angel has turned Sho Minamimoto against you."

Joshua didn't care, "That's not important. Get everyone you can to destroy their synthesized Noise. When the Noise is destroyed I'll be free of this place. Now go! I'll handle the rest when I'm released."

Kotori nodded. She send out an emergency broadcast to all Reapers.

_By order of the Composer. All Reapers are to report to Molco and assist players with the erasure of Noise. All barriers are to be removed and permission to use the O-pin is granted._

Kotori pulled out her phone, "Get the support Reapers to look for Beat, Rhyme, Neku and Shiki. We'll need their help. Officer Reapers on site are allowed to use any means necessary to contain the Noise."

Before Kotori made it to Molco herself. Something stopped her. A silver eyed Weiss was waiting for her.

"You're very loyal. I wonder what Joshua did to earn that loyalty."

Kotori didn't have time for this. "Angel I have no time to bargain. I must find Neku and Shiki."

The Angel stepped in her way and his eyes pulsed. It blew Kotori back. He kept talking, "No, I think you'll stay right here. You see I can't exactly have you ruining my little game can I?"

Kotori felt annoyed, "So this is a game to you?"

The Angel smiled, "With high stakes. Think of this as when humans gamble. I don't want to lose my gamble."

Kotori shook her head, "There are no gambles that should involve the annihilation of a city."

The Angel clarified his purpose, "I am an Agent of the Director. " He gave a humble bow, "As an Agent it is my solemn vow to test Shibuya to the best of my ability. It is my strong opinion that Shibuya needs to be destroyed before the Clash. The Director does not leave decisions such as this to himself. He listens to many before making his decision. But for Shibuya all are crying out for it's destruction. My voice is no exception. I wish to see Shibuya destroyed before any more pain is brought forward."

Kotori wasn't going to get past this guy, "Pain?"

The Agent put it simply, "Angels draw their power from positive energy. Noise are negative energy which Reapers may use. Positive and negative comes from the human Soul. But make no mistake. The human Soul is hardly the ultimate source. We angels draw from the power of the Director. Kotori, I can see you're not like other Reapers. I would like you on my side. Joshua will die in a few short days. He doesn't have long. He knows this. I wish to prepare you for what comes next. When Shibuya is destroyed a new one shall be rebuilt from the ashes."

Kotori squinted, "How?"

The Agent didn't seem to understand, "What do you ask?"

"How will Shibuya be destroyed? How will it be rebuilt?"

The Agent shook his head, "Such details concern you?"

Kotori put it simply, "This has happened before hasn't it? Shibuya isn't the first place that was destroyed was it?"

The Agent was wondering who this woman was. "What are you getting at?"

Kotori didn't need to talk any further she needed to get by this angel. She made a rush to the left and the Agent appeared in her way. Not by teleporting either, just speed. This guy was fast. He might have been up there with Sho's Leo Cantis.

Kotori made a sharp turn and went another direction only to be cut off again. The Agent lifted his hand up and stopped chasing her. "That's enough of the running around. Just sit here and watch if you can't be helpful."

Kotori looked around there were visible barriers around her. They were both on top of a building and boxed in. Kotori breathed in and then exhaled. "There's not going to be a Shibuya when you're done. There's not going to be a rebuilding of Shibuya."

The angel gave her a playful look, "Angels normally don't lie."

Kotori countered, "It was an angel that originally taught humans to lie."

The Agent bowed his head a moment and nodded, "Yes, yes it was."

He looked at her a moment and then made his observation, "What did Joshua do to win you over? You're not one that can be bought with power, are you?"

Kotori put it simply, "That's not what matters to me."

The Agent asked her, "What does matter to you?"

"Something you don't have."

The Agent tried to put two and two together. "Joshua took something from you didn't he?"

Kotori kept silent and looked to Molco. She was pinned down where she was. No means of escape. She wanted to help but it seemed that she and Joshua were caged. Kariya and Uzuki would have to handle things alone. Hopefully someone could assemble the team made 6 years ago. They needed their help. Shibuya was saved by them once, hopefully they could do it again.

Right now she needed to do the only thing she could. If anything else she could test this angel. "Most Reapers keep their Reaper wings out. It's a sign of power."

The Agent nodded, "I haven't seen yours yet. Any reason you don't like yours?"

Kotori took off her jacket and her costume changed into something white and fluttery. Her wings weren't black at all. They were white. They were reaper wings, but they weren't black. "I'm the white winged Reaper."

XXXX

Mammoth Noise fight

Best face facts. Today was going to suck. Kariya didn't get to do anything normally. He was the Game Master and he couldn't even do his job. Reapers were scrambling and the Composer was in a bind. Yeah... suck and suck.

Uzuki's loud voice came in handy. She started barking orders at the different Reapers around Molco. Whatever they could manage would help. Barriers? They were up. Players? Hands off, their mission was to help kill whatever the master of Molco was. Everyone there could bet money that was going to be a Noise. Hell anyone who didn't think that couldn't speculate worth a damn.

"Kotori should have been here by now. Do you think she ditched us?" Uzuki turned and asked Kariya. Kariya had been way too quiet. She needed to hear him talk. She knew that face of his. It was when he was thinking too hard. All his little brain gizmos going full speed. The look really didn't suit him all that well. He needed that chilled smile he normally wore.

Kariya looked at her and shook his head lightly, "No. Kotori is loyal to the Composer. That's a well known fact."

Uzuki rolled her eyes, "Well then why isn't she HERE?!" Uzuki made a low growl then calmed down. It was as if she had to take care of everything. She wasn't even promoted and yet Kotori the officer was off in la la land.

Kariya sighed, "Probably because it's a well known fact... If you take her out of the equation then almost all of our strongest officers are out of the picture."

Uzuki thought about that. "You've never seen Kotori fight, how would anyone know she's stronger than anyone else?"

Kariya responded, "Put simply... I don't need to see her fight to know she's strong. The fact no ever sees her fight should only serve to alarm you further that she's not here. Whoever got in her way must be a tough cookie."

Uzuki had a theory, "Maybe Okami trying to get revenge? I wouldn't blame him."

Kariya liked the way she thought, "There you go. That's more like it. But I don't know how Okami would stop her from getting here. Okami outfoxing someone is normal, but I don't think this was him."

Uzuki didn't see why not, "Because?"

The real problem was the Composer, "Because the Composer is nowhere in sight... The last time the Composer went missing all hell broke loose."

Uzuki shrugged, "Maybe he's just watching. That's what he normally does."

"Normally yes. But there's no way he'd sit this out. The Composer wasn't willing to sit out a mission this week, do you think he'd sit out one he didn't plan?"

He had a point. Uzuki looked at her phone, "Why do you think she asked us to look up retired players?"

Kariya shrugged, "I don't think any reaper would ask us to look for retired players. They're out of our domain... even in a state of emergency that's a first."

Uzuki raised an eyebrow, "The ones from six years ago?"

Kariya pretended not to remember their names, "Yeah, if they hit the field then that means we're up against something big."

That's when commotion started. Lots of commotion. There was a hidden Noise seal in Molco. It started glowing really bright.

"Shit."

The glowing seal shot a beam of light into the sky. The sky lit up red. The floor rumbled and blue static shot throughout Shibuya. Traffic lights messed up and Tvs fuzzed. The amount of Noise in the air was thick enough to see. All at once it came together. It condensed more and more. The Noise were merging into a single monster. What's sad is that less than a fourth of the Noise in the area merged with it and it STILL felt overwhelming. This was just a tiny taste of what they'd be up against later.

A Noise mammoth. It was a behemoth.

The lesser reapers had NO idea what they were up against they readied themselves against it as if there was actually going to be a fight. "GET BACK!" Uzuki yelled.

Too late.

The mammoth was the size of a building. Whatever barriers or defensive psyches they had in place wouldn't hold a single blow against that thing. While it was good a portion of the Reapers did as Uzuki said. Another portion stayed and tried attacking. The difference between brave and stupid? Being brave is when it works. Being stupid was when you failed. They failed.

The monster roared and smashed it's way through support barriers and completely ignored the Reaper attacks. It swiped and stomped. There were enough reapers clustered to where it was able to hit multiple targets. It charged and swiped it's tusks. It was now in the dead center of the opening in Molco. The player mission was to kill that thing? They were doomed.

Kotori wasn't there. Okami wasn't there. Sho wasn't there. And finally the Composer was nowhere to be found either.

Uzuki went ahead and declared herself the new leadership. "Get some distance! Attack it with range! Do not go near it! Wings out! Let the players help! Barriers down!"

Letting the players in seemed like a good idea. Since at least they'd serve as cannon fodder or something. Uzuki didn't know how she'd kill that thing. She wasn't sure who could.

The Reapers sure as hell couldn't. Her biggest attacks might hurt it a little, but nothing major. Luckily it was a giant target. Then a few Reapers caught on. They surrounded the thing with their wings out. At a distance it wasn't nearly as dangerous. In sequence the Reapers timed their attacks and managed an impressive volley of bolts and psyches. It wasn't like you could miss.

Uzuki saw a glimmer of hope. They were doing damage. They could kill it if they kept up teamwork.

Then the Noise revealed the real threat. It let our a roar. The sound seemed to stun everything within a block radius. When it roared Noise gathered together and joined the fight. Shit. It could call other Noise for backup. It called birds and ground units that could hit the air. Not a small number either. With that one cry it called up a small army.

"Kariya! What the hell do you think you get paid for?! Help out."

Kariya smirked. He had been charging up an attack in his hand almost the entire time. He was about to show everyone how an officer Reaper did it. "They pay me to look good!" He cried as he flung a ball of purple right at the giant Noise. The attack hit. The explosion actually annoyed it until it was looking at Kariya and Uzuki. "Great, we got its attention."

Uzuki and Kariya were a team. They were going to fight this thing one way or another. With massive stomps it turned to their direction and intended to engage. One more yell and it called up more Noise to ensure it wouldn't be disturbed by other Reapers.

It came charging and they both took different directions. Uzuki was shooting at it like it was the broad side of a barn. Kariya waved his hands and sent little bolts at it which created big explosions.

It didn't flinch.

XXXX

Kotori huffed and puffed. It was worse than she feared. This guy was a monster on a class of his own. He could probably give even the Composer a run for his money.

It looked like Weiss, but it sure as hell wasn't, "You didn't do too bad. You're stronger than you look."

Kotori didn't need to hear his bullshit critiques. She needed to help. She needed to escape.

The angel seemed to guess what she was thinking, "Oh? Thinking of escaping. Pointless really. The most efficient thing for you to do is keep me right here as long as you can."

The angel held a burning sword. He was fast and his psych power was unbelievable. She stood no chance. She weighed her options and he was probably right. But that didn't mean she couldn't make a run for it.

The angel questioned her, "What drives you? A man? Someone you love?"

Kotori made no facial change, she just kept staring.

The Agent smirked. "No, not a man... Your drive is too strong for such a weak form of love. A woman can love a man, but what do women love more? Yes, you're driven by the single greatest instinct humanity will ever know. You should be proud. If I met one more human who wanted power, I might have lost it. Tell me. Who is it you fight for?"

Kotori couldn't answer. That was dangerous information. Her price even kept her from answering.

The angel appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the neck. Then slammed her against the floor. Partly this was to beat her into submission, the other part was to feel her Soul wavelength. Angels could tell all sorts of intimate details at a glance, but they could see everything at a touch.

The Agent smiled at her then he frowned. He dropped her. "I see." Apparently by touching he suddenly understood what her motivation for being a Reaper was. It was a surprise. But it made sense now. "You hate being a Reaper... There's no offer I can make that will bend you to my side." He stuck his sword into her back while she was on the ground. The he just walked to the edge of the building they were fighting on. "Stay where you are and observe."

Despite a glow sword being stuck in her back Kotori didn't seem to be in pain. It was weird, the sword was nothing but condensed Soul energy. It didn't hurt her physically it just held her down. She muttered, "You can't kill me can you? You would have if you could."

The Agent pointed at his head, "I saw in your Soul you were smart. I can't lie. I would kill you, but angels aren't really allowed to downright kill a human without permission. It's like a Reaper being bound by rules. I'm bound by rules too. The stronger the being the more rules they follow. Even the Director binds himself to his own laws. At this time I can't kill you unless you give me reason to."

Kotori tried to get up, but couldn't. "So let me go."

The Agent cocked his head, "Keeping you here? That I can do. So I will. All you need do is observe. This is but a fraction of the power of the Noise."

Kotori didn't get it, "Why are you helping the Noise?! Why destroy Shibuya?"

The Agent turned and looked at her, "Let me be clear. I am the enemy of the Noise. All I need do is use them to prove a point. Once the point is proven, then the Director will most certainly agree." He smiled. "A time to give birth and a time to die."

That was the only hint she'd get for now.

XXXX

This Noise monster was tough. The more they hit it the more it just seemed to do nothing. No really, they made absolutely no obvious progress and they were weary. If it looked directly at them it could create a scattershot of force which was difficult to dodge. "The longer it's alive the more Noise appear. We need to kill it or it's going to call more Noise than we can erase."

That's when a player came running along. It was almost laughable that a player tried to even scratch the thing. Which is about what happened. "Scram!" Uzuki said to the player below.

It was Nanami and she wasn't going anywhere. She put her focus into her book and drew a picture. The power she gathered became a powerful long range attack. It didn't seem to have any effect, but the Noise took notice of her. It stomped and the ground shook. It shook enough create a groundwave. Nanami had to jump to avoid it. Then she started sending pen strikes it's direction. That of course did nothing. So the mammoth tried swinging its tusks. It didn't connect a hit.

"If you have any fusion abilities, use them."

She avoided another tusk slash and the ground shockwave missed her as well. When it looked at her it send a shotgun of tiny blasts with a gaze. Avoiding that was hell. She held up her book and dodged what she could. What little she blocked kept her from being torn by the force.

That's when she got backup. Thanatos showed up.

Uzuki and Kariya zipped around and let loose a twin explosion each a different color. It did damage, just not enough. That thing was something else.

Thanatos summoned up his Noise dragon he got from Joshua. Thanatos gave that Noise a death glare. He didn't know why he was there. It's not like he cared what happened to anyone or anything. It's not like he felt guilty about almost killing Weiss. It's not like he needed to mentally redeem himself by doing something good. He just... he was bored. That was it. He was doing this because he was bored. Maybe that Noise could kill him?

He looked at his timer. In a few days he'd choose whether to live or die. Having peace of mind that you can't die is a wonderful feeling. He called out his dragon and had it thrash against that mammoth.

Kariya and Uzuki couldn't complain. Some heavy hitting players were giving this thing a spanking. Then the Mammoth let out a roar to summon more Noise to its aid. The Noise that appeared started making it difficult to move around freely or dodge. Or even if you dodged the mammoth it just became a lot harder to maneuver.

Nanami was a lot more nimble than he was. Which was what you needed. Where she dodged Thanatos got blown back against the wall. Immortal or not his attacks still hurt.

"Distract it long enough so I can hit it with Mega Flare."

Nanami didn't have to play Final Fantasy to figure out what he meant. She aimed at the big guy and his gaze let his barrage of shockwaves. Nanami used the nearby Noise as shields. But even then it didn't help much. The monster Noise could always call more if he so desired. He was calling more and more as time went by. "We're going to be overwhelmed."

They were overwhelmed already. It's not like that was a surprise.

"No shit, Agatha Christie."

That's when a skater came charging in and kicked a Noise into another Noise then tackled them both into a wall. He let out a nice combo of physical power. Beat was really strong and really fast. He wore a hoodie and skater pants. He punched his fist against his hand and glared. "Who ordered a double dose of asswhuppin?"

That's when Rhyme walked around the corner casually. She wore a ladies business attire and she didn't bother tying her hair behind her head. Today was a good day not to wear heels. She was glad she had something she could run in. She looked at Thanatos and smiled sweetly, "We're here to help. And I'm glad someone is cultured enough to know who Agatha Christie is."

Thanatos looked, "The shit? You're here too?"

Rhyme tilted her head slightly and her gaze went to nearby Noise. "Some Reapers found us. We came to assist. Knowing Neku he'll be here soon too."

Nanami was getting worried, "A little help?" Too many Noise and one pissed off mammoth were enough to make her a little low on the tolerance for chit chat.

Beat charged up. Damn. He was as strong a player could possibly get. Six years to hone his skills with a psyche? Six years of pro skating? His excessive Soul just itching to be let out. "You're not gonna get a little help. You're gonna get me and my sister!" He pulled out his skateboard and pointed his palm at a nearby building. A chain shot out of his palm and latched on to the building. Apparently Beat left his physical body somewhere else. He was a player again. With that chain he shot into the air like Spiderman. He started lashing and hacking at everything. He could plow through Noise. But that Mammoth could still make meat out of him if he dared get hit by that tusk.

The Mammoth tried to hit Beat, but he was fast. He was faster than Reapers and they could fly. On his own Beat must have been a low officer class Reaper. Right now he was pacted with his sister so he was even stronger now. "Rhyme! You're up!"

Rhyme extended her hand and revealed a little bell trinket in her hand. It was her psych. That bell pendant. It was a strange psych for sure, but it's power gave her sound based attacks. It suited her. She held the pendant in her hand tight and took off. She could flick her hand and send golden sonic rings of sound that bounced off of walls and Noise. The more she made the more they bounced. Hell they even bounced off other sonic rings. With so many Noise it was impossible to miss. She had to focus to make more bouncing golden rings of sound, but hey. She seemed to have a counter for the flood of Noise pouring in.

The Noise that tried to attack her got blown back by a goldend sonic boom that exploded around Rhyme in the shape of a sphere. It made a little musical bell noise when she used it. She also could sock Noise with her hand and they vibrated the more she hit them the more they vibrated until eventually they exploded into little golden sound rings. Heck, she might have been outdoing Beat.

Nanami couldn't help but feel wowed. She'd never seen Beat and Rhyme like this. Beat was so strong and fast. Rhyme was pretty and graceful. It was a sign of how strong humans could become when they mastered their Soul.

As impressive as they were the Mammoth remained untouched. He wasn't going to allow his underlings to die needlessly. It lifted it's front legs and slammed on the ground with all it's weight. The shockwave was the size of a tidal wave. Rhyme wasn't going to dodge that and there were a ton of Reapers fighting on the ground. Try as you might to block the attack was too strong to be defended against. Rhyme didn't flinch she hopped back and held her hand up. Her brother swooped down to grab her and on his chain he swung and threw her to safety. Kariya picked up Nanami and Uzuki got Thanatos.

The Noise started swinging its tusks and firing blasts. It was going berserk. So much so it forced everyone to go into a dodging frenzy. They could fire little bits of psych here and there, but no real openings. The players all danced around him. Beat being the best at taking out Noise while in the air. He kept making more and more chains as he swung.

Uzuki whined, "What's the point of all these chains?! I'm having trouble avoiding them."

Beat kept making them and grinding across he'd pull off impressive trick attacks and just keep going. Beat was building up to something. "Ready?"

Rhyme got flung towards one of the chains. "Ready!"

"Listen to the Beat!" He cried.

Rhyme finished, "And listen closely."

Rhyme took her bell and struck one of the chains. Then it turned gold. Then more turned gold. Pretty soon there was golden chains everywhere. It was a fusion attack. Beat and Rhyme poured Soul into the chains and all of them jingled and made music. From the chain came countless music note blasts and straight up explosive shots. Melody and gold colors sprinkled throughout Molco.

Despite the impressive display. There were still many Noise left and the Mammoth still stood strong.

Then Thanatos pitched in. "Enough sitting back." He dropped from Uzuki's grip and his dragon swooped down to pick him up. "I charged up enough."

While riding his dragon he went up into the air and the dragon it opened up it's wings. The dragon took in a massive breath and made a blue ball of fire in it's mouth. "Mega flare." Thanatos said under his breath.

The dragon launched it's attack and the fireball hit the monster right on it's back. The explosion flashed and made a mini nuke explosion. The attack was wide ranged, but it didn't do too much damage to much more than the mammoth. The Mammoth wasn't doing so hot now. It tried to let out a roar to call for aid. But it didn't get to make a sound.

A giant building sized cat landed and did an impressive uppercut before turning to normal size. The cat was Mr. Mew. The owner came walking in. "I'm sorry we took so long." She said with her Mr. Mew landing back in her arms.

Thanatos didn't believe it. She just made a cat turn giant. Maybe for a short while, but she did it. Shiki was a tiny lady. Kinda like a glasses wearing woman you'd see at a bookstore. By no accord did she look like she was one of the heroes who saved Shibuya against all kinds of horrors.

Shiki glanced around and noticed a few Noise straggling. She tossed that little cat doll in the air and it split into many. Each one went after a different Noise and unleashed a combo on them.

The Mammoth got up and looked at his opponents. Although he had been weakened by Reapers. It seemed these players were the real threat. Retired heroes.

The Mammoth started charging their way. Each step it took created a shockwave and blasts from the eyes together made it something of a walking arsenal. The Noise was stupid, but it knew who the real threat was.

Nanami asked them, "Any ideas how to beat it?"

A male voice behind her spoke, "One."

Black flames shot up. The ground just starting spewing a river of black fire. It was near impossible for the Noise to see. Definitely couldn't aim now.

Everyone but Shiki turned around to see the fire split out of the way of the last member of the gang. It was Neku Sakuraba. He wore a dark purple suit mixed with his usual white and orange. His pupils were glowing orange. Every step caused black fire to get out of his way. Shibuya's champion six years ago arrived.

He looked up at the Noise mammoth and frowned. "I'll need your help."

Apparently Shiki, Beat and Rhyme knew what he meant. They let him take the lead. Neku's hands started to glow. "When the darklit planets align..."

Neku didn't run forward, he hovered. He could just barely fly above the ground, but that in no way made him slow. He was almost as fast as Beat. And his ranged attack power was unbelievable. He circled around the mammoth Noise faster and faster. The more he circled the more the flames grew. He kept spinning until a black tornado of flame surrounded the monster. Then to add insult. He shot up into the air and fired plasma into the monster's eyes. The monster roared, but couldn't use it's glare attack. It roared, but it didn't matter now. It was in a tornado of fire and black ice stuck out of the ground to impale it in it's place. It tried to send a blast Neku's way but he timed a barrier of energy just well enough to avoid the attack.

It couldn't touch Neku. The black ice that impaled it shot up high sending the monster a little off the ground.

Neku shut his eyes then opened them to reveal a white glow, it was the ultimate fusion move. A move Neku could do with three other master level players. He held his palm forward and his Soul combined with all of his friends. The end result was a Reaper skull emblem in front of his palm and fired a massive size laser beam toward his enemy. No fusion technique could ever match that. "It ends with you." Neku said before launching all of his Soul power straight at the Mammoth.

Nothing could have survived that attack. The Supernoise was obliterated.

There was silence and wind. Then a light clap.

From atop a building a silver eyed Weiss clapped at them. "Shibuya never ceases to amaze."

Shiki looked at her fiance and asked, "Is that Weiss?"

Neku said flatly, "That's the angel."

It was the Agent of the Director. Officer class angel and the one who was watching them. "My apologies for not being introduced properly. I am the Agent. Sent forth from the heavens to reign destruction down on this city. I speak to the humans that have gathered here that I may explain my presence."

Beat demanded to know, "You the one who made that Noise monster?!"

The Agent smiled similar to Joshua. It was a superior look, "The one who made this Noise is you. Humans are the creators of Noise not angels. Why the Director takes such fascination in humans, I will not fathom."

Thanatos looked carefully at Weiss, "Hey Weiss! You in there?"

The angel cocked his head. "In there? Oh? In a way. Weiss isn't real. He's just something the Director made in order to host powerful angels like myself. It's difficult for powerful angels to find hosts. It's easier for the Director to make bodies like this one designed with the expressed purpose of holding our power."

Thanatos asked again, "You in there or not?!"

The angel sighed, "It seems you won't listen. No matter. I've already made things clear to you have I not?"

Neku asked, "Why are you trying to destroy Shibuya?"

The Agent had to think of how best to answer, "That Noise you fought wasn't even a seventh of the total Noise in Shibuya. While you did erase a small portion of the Noise you're all but exhausted. There'd be no way to face the full force of the Noise. Whether you wish it or not the Noise will descend upon Shibuya in the coming weeks. When they do, there is but one option."

Shiki weakly asked, "To erase them?"

The angel nodded and pointed in her direction, "As she said. The clear option is to erase them is it not?"

Rhyme actually had a fair question, "If it were that simple Joshua or the angels would have done it already."

That silvered eyed angel just had to give these humans points. They weren't nearly ad dim witted as everyone in heaven made them sound. "There are rules and complications. The Noise have engrained themselves with Shibuya and throughout Japan. They are a cancer. A tumor that has spread to the point where Shibuya is beyond saving. The only way to erase the Noise is to also erase Shibuya with it. For the sake of a better Japan... and world. We need to destroy all of Tokyo in order to keep the Noise from spreading more than they already have. All who live here are doomed to die one way or another in the coming weeks. Either by the hand of the Noise or the hand of the angels. For the sake of the world you shall die."

That couldn't be right. That couldn't be it. Neku was outraged, "Was that what Joshua was going to do?! He was going to erase us back then to prevent this?!"

The angel glanced in the distance in annoyance, "Ah yes... your Composer. He overstepped his duties once again. The only one who can grant permission to destroy Shibuya is not the Composer, but the Director. The Director is the we angels serve. The Director is the one who monitors Composers to ensure they do not overstep their boundaries. Joshua gaining power was the direct result of another human losing favor."

They could milk him for more information, sure. But what was the point? What else did they really need to know? There was one thing Neku needed to clarify. "So you're the Agent of the Director? And you're here to prove Shibuya is beyond saving? Will you try again? To destroy Shibuya?"

The Agent seemed to find that a silly question. "Of course I'll try again. That should seem obvious. My time is up when this week ends. Two days remain after this. So of course I will try again. But you needn't worry. If the remaining players here were to leave the city none of you would die."

Rhyme said, "We'd need to evacuate a lot more than us."

The Agent laughed, "That would defeat the purpose. As people spread themselves across the world so too shall the Noise. So take few with you. Take your friends and families. On the seventh day of this week there will be a barrier preventing the Noise and those who carry them from leaving. At that time, all eyes of heaven and hell will be placed here. Awaiting to see the Directors wrath."

Neku didn't want to see any of this bullshit happen, "How do we prevent it? Will killing you prevent this?"

The angel started laughing, "Once again I see that fire in your eyes. Yes, there is a Reason the Composer chose you long ago for his champion. But no matter the fire in your eyes, it won't end with killing me. The only thing erasing me would do is force the Director to unleash his wrath early. Do not tempt the patience of the Director, he is not one easily crossed."

Nanami said something brave, "I don't think the Director would like what you're doing."

That was the first time someone said something hurtful. "What would a human know?"

Nanami answered quickly, "The Director likes humans right? You said so yourself. You seem to hate them. So I don't think the Director would be pleased with what you are doing."

The angel shrugged, "Stupid little girl. That is the ultimate arrogance, to think you understand the Director. What could you possibly know about the Director?!" He was getting angry.

Nanami answered at her own peril, "I know that the Director hasn't destroyed us yet. I know that the Director was angry when Joshua tried the same tactic. I know the Director values human life, despite all the Noise that surround this place."

Neku chimed in, "And I know none of us want you in our Shibuya. Get out."

"Or you'll do what?"

Neku charged in with psyches all aglow. His friends had his back this time, each of them taking a pose surrounding the Agent. The Angel looked at all four of them. They were with Neku. They'd follow him all the way to death if needed. The angel looked at those surrounding them. "I suppose it was inevitable. Humans, do you know what I am called in another language? I am called Seraph. I am a burning one. And you shall see why humans gave me that name!"

The Agent's eyes shot out silver fire. His wings stretched out in their silver reflective color. All the same his wings burned without smoke. Then the Agent made a sword of pure Soul energy. It too burned with a silver fire. Everyone watched him change his power was unbelievable. The only one they knew who could surpass was Joshua himself. This was an angel. This was the one who threatened to destroy Shibuya.

Neku rose up fire around them and then dived backwards into it. Shiki sent in Mr. Mew first. Beat came in from behind. Rhyme sent her 'echo rings' (as I'll call them) bouncing off the air so he couldn't use those wings of his to fly. And make no mistake he could use them to fly. But he didn't, not yet.

The Agent went soaring straight at Shiki. Mr. Mew was in the way, but he cut into the doll as he zigged around it. Mr. Mew couldn't normally be hurt, but whatever that sword was made of made it a lot harder for her to control Mr. Mew. It wasn't permanent, but Mr. Mew got a lot harder to make move after his sword slash scrambled her psych. The Agent zipped left to avoid Beat swinging his skateboard and launching a chain so he couldn't move right. In response the Agent looked at Beat and flexed his mental muscle. "Angels have many psyches. We have no need for pins." The Agent let off a blast a pure telekinesis. It wasn't controlled for lifting things, it was just a pulse of raw Soul that sent Beat flying. It actually did damage, but hurting Beat with telekinesis was like trying to hurt a bulldozer with a baseball bat.

The Agent looked up it seemed the golden rings in the air were filling up enough for him not to fly. He cut Mr. Mew once more on his way to Shiki and Beat was out of the way for now. He saw Rhyme and had something that would keep her busy. The Agent charged up an attack in his hand while he moved and called down a golden light pillar. It was similar to what Joshua could call down from the sky except this was smaller and more condensed. It more. Rhyme felt it.

Rhyme upon getting hit gasped. It hurt enough for her to need an immediate heal pin. Beat was on it. He shot a chain her direction and pulled out a curry pin. He could use it with Rhyme as his partner and hell even Neku. Rhyme got healed, but Shiki was in trouble. The Agent was almost to her.

Before the Agent swung his sword and hit Shiki he jumped away from her to avoid black ice spikes from impaling him. The angel pointed his hand towards the ice and did that mental telekinesis to blow the ice away then came in for another attempt at cutting her. In his way now was Neku. With a black barrier. One that burned every time it was struck. Neku hadn't known many able to break that black barrier.

The angel smiled and put his free hand on the barrier and closed his eyes. Without applying any force the barrier started cracking. It cracked more and more the longer the Agent touched it. Just before it broke Neku sent plasma and metal in his direction. The Agent zipped around and took one of the bolts. Apparently it didn't hurt him much. He used his telekinesis blowback to get Neku out of the way. Then he went for Shiki. This time no one was going to interfere. He called down another pillar to hit Neku and then he drew his weapon to slash Shiki.

That's when his sword stopped right before hitting Shiki. Nanami was in the way. The sword stopped short of Nanami's throat. "You?" The angel said surprised.

Nanami sent several pen slashes his direction. But the Agent didn't seem to try to dodge them so much as just let the attacks hit him, "Get out of the way, Nanami."

She wasn't moving, "If you don't get out of the way, I'll erase you."

Nanami still didn't move. "You can't attack me, can you?"

The agent focused on Beat and Rhyme attacking him now. He managed to fight them off by using a blowback and sending another pillar in Neku's direction. "I have no reason to hold back."

That's when Neku stopped attacking and watched. He held up his hand to get the others to back off a moment. This was interesting.

Nanami took a guess, "Weiss is still in there isn't he?"

The Agent tried not to frown, "Weiss hardly matters, he's just a vessel. I could destroy you if I so chose."

Nanami didn't buy it.

The Agent saw she wasn't buying it. So he decided to cut to the chase. He flew over her and went for Shiki. He had to deflect Beat. Then he had to avoid Rhyme's echo blasts. Then he had to take hits from a few dozen Mr. Mews. Then he had to send a light pillar down around himself to blow them off, but Shiki was finally open. He readied his sword and just before he cut her, his blade stopped once again. There was a white glow that appeared in front of Shiki. One that everyone recognized.

"You." The angel said.

Joshua smirked that haughty little smile it took years to perfect, "The mission's over. You failed."

The Agent dismissed his blade and his wings vanished. Apparently his eyes even stopped burning. The fight was over. "How did I fail."

Joshua motioned to Neku, "You forgot about retired players. They were the ones you needed to stop."

The Agent was going to need to leave. He turned and left behind a single message, "If you stand with Joshua all will be erased. He intends to fight the Noise. This is a battle you cannot win. That Noise I summoned was nothing. If they descend, they will bring forth their champions and lay destruction to all."

Joshua didn't care, "I intend to fight them to the very last of their game."

The Agent looked towards Neku and the gang and left them with this thought, "If you join this battle, not everyone will survive. There will be sacrifices. Shibuya will become a battleground and loved ones, even those here. You cannot beat all of the Noise. If each of you fought to the last man the Noise would still have infinite reinforcements. The Noise will see Shibuya as an opening and they will pour into the world. Leave this place. Evacuate it. Only then can you be made certain your loved ones are safe."

The Agent left. Just teleported away.

Leaving everyone to stare at Joshua. "Well Neku. You did great. You saved Shibuya once and you can do it again. With your help, Neku we can get the angels to spare Shibuya and we can defeat the Noise in one last game."

Neku looked at him with a glare, "No."

Joshua didn't get it, "What?"

Neku clarified, "I said 'no'. No more games... Not from you, not ever."

Joshua looked at his friends, "You can't agree with this."

Beat shook his head, "I'm no good at thinking Josh, but no. We can't fight all of the Noise we need to get people to safety. That's what we should do. We need to get as many innocent people out of here as will be allowed."

Joshua turned to Shiki, "We can't risk losing each other, not after all we've been through. I'm sorry Josh."

Joshua looked to the floor and nodded, "Yes, I feared you might say that. But think of this!"

He told them one last thing before leaving, "Shibuya needs you. Everything you ever cared about needs you. If you let Shibuya be destroyed knowing you could have stopped it. Then be able to live with that regret."

Joshua vanished. The mission was over.

[Authors notes:

Yeah... thinking I'm pretty much going to have to rewrite all of these. I'm not sure. Every time I look back at my old writing I have to wonder... Did I somehow become less stupid over time? Or did I somehow get mildly better at writing. Either way, I think I've reached improvement. For that I thank everyone reading. The more you write the more you improve and fans make you write. Tell me what you think and I'll try to get back to you.

-0er0 out

PS: Fun ways to pronounce my name: Rio, Zero, Oreo and finally Jerk.


	13. Week Two, Day Six: Why even ask?

[Author's notes: Getting closer. Once I edit week 2 Day 7 I'll begin working on the final chapter. PM me for any takers. It will be long. And it's going to be a lot of work on my end. I intend to wrap up all plot archs and loose ends. I will certainly benefit from other readers. PM me if interested.)

Week 2 Day 6

Why even ask?

_From the desk of chief executive officer Sakuraba_

_It's come to my attention that expansion is a necessary part of our company and it's become alarmingly clear that we've been pushing too little. Japan is a wonderful country and indeed my home, but if we end our horizons there, we're cheating ourselves out of seeing the world. As I have often quoted in meetings from my head of creative development, "The world ends with you." I won't let Darklit Entertainment fall anything short of the best it can possibly be. However this new expansion will press our employees and ourselves. The task of stepping into another country should never be taken lightly. I've begun preparations on a movement to different parts of the world. Different employees will be ideally placed in the areas they will need to learn for the purposes of absorbing the cultures of areas we wish to expand. This is nothing more than a mini-vacation. Darklit Entertainment will be experiencing an exodus. It's something I've talked about for some time, but now in the face of current events I believe to be perfect timing. Our employees and their families can move to one of our many facilities with state of the living environments. This will serve as a place for our employees to learn about the culture and the customs of the country they may want to be relocated to. This is necessity for making offbranches. At the very least I want every member of my company out of Japan on this two week period where we will study language and culture in the best way I know, entrenching. When I took a vacation to Florida, it was there I learned that I learned more in one week than any textbook studies. You learn the raw culture and you learn the people that live there. It's this kind of thing that lets you master the entertainment industry before marketing to other countries. In post haste, I wish every member of my company to be a part of this. Even if they have no intention of moving, they should at the very least take 2 weeks leave and I strongly recommend we begin project Exodus immediately. Exodus was bound to happen sooner or later and there has never been a time more clear to me than now. I feel even if there are those who disagree, they should direct all questions or concerns to our staff and work out whatever they feel is a roadblock for leaving.. This is a learning experience no one can afford to miss. Don't think of it as moving away forever, think of it as a two weeks leave where everyone can relax and enrich themselves in a safe environment in culture. Below I have listed off a number of places that will be key for development. All moving expenses will be taken care of and it is my greatest wish to set out immediately. I'll be bringing my wife and I expect to hear from you all. I'm sure there will be some protests, but please contact any of your supervisors if there are any questions / comments on how or why this is happening now. The quicker the better and the quicker the more efficient. If I have any early volunteers be sure to let me know. _

_-Your loving dictator and CEO Neku "Phones" Sakuraba_

_PS: This is a forced vacation. Think of this as me blowing millions of cooperate cash just to give everyone a treat. Think of it was my party favor to you early, you're all invited to my wedding._

**Message sent. You have 1 new message.**

_Market Director Makoto_

_I've looked over your report and I have to say this will be next to impossible. Moving all of our employees at once is nearly out of the question. At best we'll only get 3/4ths of the company employment into leaving the country. I'm sure at this moment you're writing some bogus reason to the board of directors and I have to say that you should leave that to me. I know what you're trying to do, but there's no way you can save everyone. If anyone else had told me that Shibuya was about to face disaster... I would have them locked up. But you Neku... you've never lead me or this company astray and that's the reason we're going to get 3/4ths the attendance. It's because we're always borrowing your strength. I have informed all the necessary supervisors and management of the situation. I told them I didn't know your sources and that I didn't ask. Shibuya and for that matter, Japan is in danger. If you're right about this disaster, you may well have saved over 6,000 lives. Assuming that all employees take their families and loved ones. Still I believe you're not going to stop there are you? You're determined to save everyone. I know you are at this point. Neku, there are times in life you can't save everyone. But you're doing what you can, I'll spread the word as best as possible and not sound like a crazy person. I'm hiring several experts to falsify the possibility of a disaster hitting Japan. That at the very least will get more people moving before it hits. If you say it's in 2 weeks, then the disaster will hit long before everyone could leave. We're on an island, Neku. There are only so many planes and so many places you can go. I know you have the most direct control over your own company... and you're actually saving a lot of cooperate headache by saving your employees. I'm working on some property damage protection if I can. I sense a series of all nighters... I demand a vacation after this! If you get one I get one!_

_-Chief Financial Officer_

Neku read the message and gave a look at his inbox. Within that it took him to read it, he had six replies. Seven after he waited a moment more. He didn't even need to read the whole message the subjects were enough. "Are you sure?" "Is this a joke?" "I'm all for a vacation!" "Sir with respect, this is not possible." "I can't remove my children from school." All five of those were from different supervisors or management. The reactions they had were expected. He dare not read them all, by the time he'd read one another might as well appear. He didn't know exactly who was emailing him at this point, but this was just the beginning.

The last couple of emails were actually warnings of possible disaster from some researchers. Apparently a storm was going to hit most of japan and reach severity in the Tokyo reasons. Mokoto had his back. Pointing out fake signs of danger was better than telling them to truth.

"Nice spin." 

Neku was covering as much as possible. For what little it was worth he actually was looking into expanding. This was just sudden and it was going to be a hard sell. It was more than his duty as company president to help his employees, but also his duty to Shibuya to see everyone warned. Makoto had an interesting idea, paying scientific experts to claim a disaster was coming for fortify his claim. Shibuya was going to be destroyed in the next to weeks by either the Noise or the Angels. He needed something more believable to get the rest of the people out.

One message read:"Tin pin prez! I challenge you!" Obviously it was from Shooter, who once again asked him to a tinpin match. Neku responded to that one by telling Shuto that he accepted his challenge and if he wanted a tin pin match he'd wait for him in the major tournament in New York. Neku was not going to be there, but at least Shooter would be somewhere else when the disaster hit. Just one more person? He needed to do more.

_Why do I feel so guilty?_He wondered to himself while his eyes were viciously rubbed. Why did he feel so guilty? It seemed like he had no reason to. He was doing everything he could to keep the country alive. If it was possible to do damage control, he was doing it. But it all seemed so, "Pointless... Why does this feel pointless." The grown man actually felt tears swelling up in his face.

Neku all his life was a fighter in nature. If anyone told him to run he'd tell them to screw themselves. If anyone told him to back down, he'd break their face. If someone told him to play their game he'd walk away and mutter the words, "Blow me." Neku was antisocial. It didn't take a psych major to tell that he had trouble empathizing with other people. But unlike complete sociopaths he had a heart and he could feel. It was just always hard for him to feel. Maybe it was because he hated his stepmom. He never met his real mom and with the way things worked out; there was a snowballs chance in hell he'd ever see her. Neku never forgave his dad for marrying again. The woman didn't even do anything worth hatred, it's just the child never accepted her. He acted up in school he acted up everywhere. He didn't get people, hell he still didn't get people. But he went through his whole life feeling nothing, he didn't care about anything. Nothing drove him or influenced him. It wasn't too surprising that the moment he felt something he'd make a strong bond toward it.

He felt Shiki back then, didn't he?

There were two things in life that made him feel. The first was he felt moved whenever he saw CAT's artwork. He followed it until the day he died and he did die. Joshua, that smirking bastard, killed Neku while looking at something that moved him. It was after he died he met the second thing in the world to make him feel, "Shiki..." The girl had a talent for bringing out the best in people. She brought out the best in Neku, both his power and spirit. Like an antidote she purged the bile of hatred in his heart in only seven days. She had talent, she did. It's why he married her. She made him feel everything again. And when he was with her it was like experiencing the world all over again for the first time. When he met her in the real world, he smiled. He smiled and meant it, she made him happy. Secretly he knew full well after he saw her again, he was going to marry her. He wanted to keep feeling, because after a life of being numb to emotion... it felt damn good. Neku, the most independent male anyone had every known, needed her. But think about it. Doesn't every man need a woman? Sure. And probably the reverse is true. At least you'd hope so.

Back then if he were faced with saving Shibuya he'd fight. He would have fought to the death and never looked back. He'd try to save everyone and everything. That was his nature. But now, he couldn't. Why? The thought entered his mind of him dying, of Shiki standing over his body in tears. The thought entered his mind of him holding Shiki as she slowly vanished into erasure. His eyes narrowed at the thought of her saying goodbye to him one last time. Then he shut both eyes as he knew he had made the right choice, they both had to live now. He imagined her holding a baby, he imagined that baby growing up to be a smartass like his dad. He imagined teaching the kid how pick up chicks and he imagined giving the boy a pair of shades and new shoes. Neku felt like hitting something for no reason, he wasn't giving that up, he wouldn't ever. He was going to save Shiki and himself first. He wasn't alone anymore and he couldn't risk dying anymore. Sure when you were alone dying was easy. Now dying was an unbearable thought. He played more than enough games for his share of living. Everyone acted like he had the power to stop the noise, but he didn't. He wasn't God. He wasn't even Composer. Neku didn't have the power to save everyone, but he was going to be sure to help everyone else.

In the other room Shiki finished a call. The place they lived was incredibly nice, but it felt alien. It didn't feel permanent anymore. She looked around the apartment wondering what she should save or pack. It didn't matter really, Neku and her could buy whatever they needed. It didn't really matter what she brought. Then she looked at a photo album of Neku and herself at a skatepark. It was some event for Beat, she wasn't interested in skating at all. But she came for one reason, to help Beat and Rhyme pull through the nervous tension.

Why was it she felt different than back then? All her life when she was young she felt helpless or useless. She felt she wasn't pretty and she thought she didn't matter. It seemed like she lived her life in Eri's shadow. It made sense, she was weak and Eri was strong. Shiki thought she'd spend her whole life following someone strong and she had no idea what she'd do if she were rejected by Eri. She was dependent and no one thought much of her. All it took was one unkind word from Eri. That was all it took to destroy her world.

Then that fateful day when she met Neku. Neku was strong, stronger than Eri, stronger than anyone she knew. This boy while filled with hatred was changing. His sheer willpower steamrolled him through his life, while she avoided every little obstacle and got killed for it. She was weak and he was strong. Neku changed her though, she felt different by the end of the week. When she fought against Yodai she felt Neku's power and she felt her own. She was strong for the first time in her life. It wasn't Neku, it was her. She felt invigorated when she realized for once, "I'm strong." The grown woman shut the book as she finished looking at her old pictures.

It wasn't long before she fell for him, was it? She felt like the feeling was mutual. A touch of devotion in his gaze. When she was near Neku she felt strong, she felt like nothing could stop her and she felt like she could do anything. She didn't need Eri anymore, she didn't need anyone but she knew she wanted Neku. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with Neku, be the challenges great or small she felt like she could fight the world. Shiki was strong and it was Neku that made her so.

Shiki remembered saying, "I do." Before Neku had a chance to bend down on one knee. Neku didn't even ask, she knew he was going to. The boy threw the ring box behind his shoulder and kissed her. Although she had to laugh after he had to wade through a wishing fountain to find the ring box. She giggled at the picture of him looking for the ring box. She took one with her phone, it was totally worth it. While she was laughing at him finding the ring he reached out of the fountain and pulled her in too. She landed right on her butt and her hair was sprayed with a torrent of water from the elaborate fountain. She had to push the strands of hair out of her eyes and when she opened them she could make out the shape of a ring. The smiling Neku told her, "I'm still gonna ask. Shiki... will you marry me?"

Shiki shut her book and walked over to where her soon to be husband was. He sat in front of his computer with his face buried in both hands. "You've done more than enough for tonight." She told him what he already knew.

Neku nodded a few times, "Yeah... how are things on your end?"

Shiki smiled still thinking about when he proposed, "They're fine. Everyone believed me... so far." Her eyes looked to the outside window where the busy city didn't sleep. The night was cheated by the sheer amount of lights. She wanted to tell Neku something for a while. Something she heard a while back. She had visited the doctor recently. The fact she hadn't gotten pregnant yet, worried her. She needed to tell him for a while now, but didn't know how. She came to him and held him a bit. "Neku, let's get some sleep..."

Neku didn't get up, "Sorry... just a lot is on my mind..." He was kind of pathetic huh?

Shiki smiled and told him, "That's no problem for you. If you have too much on your mind for you to handle, share." Why was she being cheery? Now was a time to be preparing for Armageddon for Shibuya. They should be running in the streets and shouting for everyone to get out. So why cheer up? It was because she needed to.

Neku for the moment felt calm and nodded, "You're right. but I feel like I should do more."

Shiki reminded him as she kept herself next to her mate, "What you feel isn't always right... what you should do isn't always the right thing." She closed her eyes and rested on his shoulder. He paused a moment and felt... nice. Shiki had a habit of making him feel things.

"What I feel isn't always right? Heh, ain't that the truth. But you know. What about I'm feeling right now?"

She smirked, "Well sometimes there are exceptions."

He loved her, he didn't need to say he. The phone started ringing.

They both kissed and felt no need to answer as the night came to an end.

XXX

Classical music has a way of calming the soul. In a fine room filled with an elaborate carpet and chandelier. It looked at least to be a four star hotel and it was filled with classical music. It was the presidential suite and in it sad the main villain of the story. Like any good villain he had a devilish smile and an arrogant posture. In front of him a finely crafted chessboard where he played the white chess pieces and he made a move with a knight. "I simply adore that white makes the first move. It reflects reality. The angels always make their move first and the forces of evil are merely reactionary."

Weiss was his body nothing more, the angel controlled a body as if controlling an attack drone to attack an enemy nation. Or more importantly it was like Weiss was a chess piece. A pawn? That seemed fitting didn't it? The angel for convenience sake allowed himself to be called Weiss up to this point, but in reality he had no name. He only had his title. Angels weren't like humans. The Director had no name. He only had descriptions of himself.

Sho had no reason to learn his name. They were expected to work together. "You! Angel! What are you calculating? I admire the way you show your work, with all variables accounted for, your math has been shown and I can simplify. The Composer is powerless to stop you... Neku flees against the power of infinity and you... add yourself to it. But tell me this, factoid. How do we proceed now?" Sho might seem compliant, but he was far from it. Sho was a free spirit and unbelievably difficult to control. He might play along one moment but not the other.

The angel thought a moment as he looked at the chess game. He moved a piece with his white and red suite untouched by even a spec of dirt. The angel answered at last, "For now. Call me what I am. Agent. In music the agent evaluates talent or finds a composer a proper producer. It's my job to coordinate meetings between talent and authority. I evaluate this city on behalf of my superiors. From my report they will determine the fate of this dying city. The Director will make short work of this place."

He moved a piece and looked up at Charon who was playing against him on the black side. Out of a wine glass there was freshly brewed coffee. Charon drank his coffee out of a wine glass hot.

Sho scoffed, "Agent? What kind of a name is that? I'm tempted to make a matrix joke... but that would lead to an inverse matrix."

Neither Agent or Charon got the joke. Because neither of them saw that movie. Sho needed to point out, "Hey, black suite. You lost four moves ago. You got 2 moves left."

Charon muttered, "I'm aware, the only purpose of this is playing the game through. Giving orders to pawns is not my strength. I knew I lost many more moves ago."

The angel told him, "You lost when you chose your color. Speaking of preparing for checkmate... there's another game that needs to have pawns moved." By pawns he spoke of players and reapers.

"In the real world... both sides do not have an equal number of pieces. Each piece has different power. Each piece has a story and each piece has a place and has a life to lose. Checkmate." T

he angel got up at the same time as Charon. "It's time we finished the game. There are so many lives left to lose. Sho, would you kindly set up the mission as instructed?" Sho kept his arms folded as he coolly leaned against the wall as he wore his old getup. It felt good for him to be in it again, cap and all, "I set up the mission twenty minutes ago. I've done my part. Set up my status as Composer."

Usually, one didn't bargain with an Agent, but Sho wasn't type of guy to be referred to as 'one'. Charon gave the Agent a look as if wondering if he was even going to do it. "As per our agreement. I'll see it done."

The angel reached into his white suite and in the pocket of his red undershirt he had a phone. With a single tap on a blank screen the angel spoke, "With your permission, I have acquiesced the service of the Conductor. In exchange for his help I offered him the position of Composer, will the angels grant this?" After silence the Agent tossed Sho the phone. When the Conductor held it to his ear a strong voice spoke, "After this city is destroyed, you may if you desire become Composer. Until that time assist my Agent. Will you stand by him until the end? Or will you fail? Choose your own path, Conductor. You will not be a pawn for long."

Sho wanted to laugh, the person on the phone was astute. Sho had for a very long time been following orders. Very soon he was going to show everyone in Shibuya why. Any fool would have known Sho wasn't to be trusted, but these angels trusted too much. Whoever their boss was, knew. Their boss knew what Sho was like. They might not have heard it. Or perhaps they didn't care that Sho had no real loyalty. The Conductor had been 'measuring' noise as per the Composer's orders. Joshua in the hype of things would be unable to see the trap the Conductor had laid. With or without this angel's help he'd get what he wanted. Joshua was smarter than them, Joshua was smarter than almost everyone in Shibuya. But Minamimoto had a plan to outfox the Composer the angels and even the reapers. For now this angel worked alongside him. But his part to play in the game was not what the angel could predict. By the sound of the guy on the phone, Sho was reminded of the card he needed to play and the hand he was dealt, it was time to act. But he need not act odd, he needed to keep his composure and his reason. He needed to act as if this angel was his only way out of being Conductor.

That had to satisfy the Conductor for now. "That proves nothing."

Perhaps a voice on the other end of the phone wasn't enough. Fine.

He reminded the angel that there was no trust. But as things turned out, the only proof that should be accepted was him being made Composer. The math genius looked outside at the rising sun. "Are you positive about this? Did you calculate that you are a player too or did you just not factor that into consideration?"

Charon reminded Sho, "You need not worry, his safety is none of your concern. Even if he is erased, your end of the deal will be met. Assuming it can be met. The safety of the the Agent is a matter left to Security. I will see to the protection of both you and the Agent. If you are fortunate, the Composer will try to compromise the Agent's safety. That would make your status as Composer assured."

Charon seemed confident enough in his abilities. No one had a reason to doubt it, but then Joshua wasn't the type to get into a fair fight. Joshua was the type to end his battles in one swift blow, he was the type to wait and make a surprise move that changed the game. Joshua was indeed a worthy opponent, but he wasn't against a normal opponent. The Composer wasn't making the rules anymore, it was the angels. And the rules made were clear enough.

_Cancel out the Game Master. T=unlimited -__**The X Conductor**_

The day was going to be lame, he had a feeling. The orange haired reaper lay with his back on a couch and grumble at the vibration of his phone. A little jingle went off to insinuate that a text had been received. He didn't want to look at it, he wanted to keep his eyes covered by the magazine he used to cover his eyes from the light from the window. The game master had one issue, the text could be important and as fate would have it... it was. The poor guy reached for his phone with the magazine falling off his face. What's worse was that it was the kind of magazine you wouldn't want to be seen with. A bikini clad magazine labeled 'Guns and Knockers'. Darklit entertainment of course was responsible, but the text made the guy sigh.

"Well that's a bummer..." Kariya as usual began his day with an understatement. Uzuki didn't know what he meant. Yes, she stayed over. Try not to act too surprised. 

"What's a bummer? Your mission get overwritten again?" She sat down nearby.

Kariya started his day by opening up a fresh lolipop and shoving it in his mouth. It may very well have been his last. He made sure to enjoy it and he'd get a few things off his mind. "Uzuki... I always had a thing for you." He began after passing her the phone, "If I had my way, we'd be partners forever. I wanted a long life and slow promotion. Looks like I've been promoted too much. When you take my job."

Uzuki's face turned pink to match her hair as she had no idea why he was saying such... odd... things. "What kind of crack did you put on that lolipop?"

Kariya chuckled and threw her his phone as he walked out the door, "The kind of crack that makes you do something stupid." Kariya was bad at goodbyes, but this had to do. Uzuki opened the phone and read it over.

"Oh no..." Kariya was going to be the target of the remaining players. The Conductor was with that angel brat! This was bad! Really bad! He could die!

That's when his odd confession made sense, "He thinks he's going to die..." Uzuki got up and pulled out her weapon. "That bastard owes me ramen! I can't let him die yet! And how am I going to get promoted without him?!"

After a few steps the game master vanished with unused speed. Never once had he moved this fast, not since he fought Neku. He had a feeling that he was living his last day. Any other game master would have thought that they were invincible. Any other game master would have planned a way to destroy all the players that day. Kariya accepted the inevitable, "Well... I'm boned." The reaper jumped from roof to roof landing perfectly in the middle of an alleyway where he fired two shots at two players who still lived. "But it's been a good life." He told the two dying players he blasted. He walked passed them and fired a blast into the air, "Might as well go out on my own terms... not as a desperate man fighting death... nah... I'm gonna go staring death in the face. Death smiles at us all... what else to do but smile back?"

The blast of energy shot through the air attracting any reaper or player nearby. He began fighting in the streets to erase them all one by one. "Alright..." He took his lolipop and dropped it by his shoe. With his foot he smashed the lolipop and a fire in his eyes told you he was trying something for the first time in his life, "Game on!" He yelled with a smile at anyone who dared face him now. All players who met him, faced death. Only players immune from death had a chance. Angels, Reapers, the Composer and the immortal. He'd fight two of those today at least. He was an officer, but best not make a fuss about it. Someone had screwed him with this mission today. He had no plans on hiding. He was going to make it hard for them.

XXX

The mission mail struck two women at the same time in different ways. Kotori and Uzuki upon reading it had a different face. One was angry and crushed the phone. One took an irritated look to her left and tried to assess the situation. Both were in different places, but had similar resolve. It goes without saying the one holding the crushed phone was Uzuki. The pink haired reaper dashed out the door. Kotori was standing outside tailing the Conductor to this hotel. Both Uzuki and Kotori were chasing men they admired in some way or another, the thing was... both were different men. Uzuki ran with all her might toward the man she admired. Kotori stood at a distance quietly contemplating what he was planning. Was Sho a puppet? Was he really letting the angels use him? No... he'd never be used. He was planning something of his own. But to sacrifice Kariya showed what kind of commitment the Conductor had to other reapers. For all Kotori knew, she was next. Uzuki didn't need to know what was going on, she was going to fight by the side of Kariya. She was going to fight until she died, she wouldn't let him die first. She couldn't let that lazy bastard let himself die, he was the type who gave up too easy. No, she'd see he fought to the end. She'd see him sweat today, he was going to sweat and he was going to live.

Joshua interrupted Kotori's thoughts with the patter of footsteps. The woman took a defensive position uncertain of what the Composer intended. "Did you know... When I made him Conductor... I always saw this coming." Kotori kept silent as Joshua continued, "When I made him Conductor, I put a timer on his hand. An hour total. If he ever tried to kill me the timer would tick down. If he ever plotted to have me killed by his hand... it'd tick down. If any force he controlled tried to kill me he'd lose time. He was forced to never kill me. If he killed me... the timer would eventually erase him. Only I could add more time." Kotori's eyes widened as Joshua revealed this, "He's going to betray me. That was his intention from the start. This time he plans to let the angels do it. What little control I had on him was broken by an angel. He intends for me to die when my time runs out. But setting up my death seems to suit his needs. That's what he's doing you know."

Kotori guessed Joshua might have done some sort of condition on Sho being Conductor. "You have him as you have me... Chained.."

Joshua shrugged, "All reapers are chained... by desire or ambition. You're chained by something else entirely. There's a price that's yet to be returned. I offer your original price... if you help me." Kotori paused a moment. Joshua offered her something she couldn't refuse, something she lost long ago when she became a reaper. She lost her price, the most important thing to her. Joshua indeed had the power to return it, after all he's the one who took it. "You wouldn't return it... You'd never return it..."

Joshua didn't bluff about things like this, "If you do me one little favor... I'll give your price back. Actually... your price is just what's at stake. Up for a game? It's one you can win."

Kotori listened and kept in mind the liar before her. He was a trickster and rarely were carrots offered easily obtained. "My game is very simple. If you can complete three tasks... your price will be returned. If you fail, your price will be lost forever. Whether you accept or not is irrelvant. Listen well to the conditions. I know you you can do them."

Kotori had fallen for this before, but it's not like she had a choice. "It's hopeless."

Joshua happily pointed a finger at the reaper's hand and her timer began to tick. "Don't act like you won't try. The three tasks are very simple... so listen well."

What did he need her for? Joshua was Composer.

Joshua put it simply, "Whether or live or not, your price will be returned if you meet the conditions. I pulled a few strings, something like this is easy. It's kinda like having your price wired to you regardless of my death."

Kotori commented, "You're planning on dying... And you need me to do something for you after I die."

Joshua smirked, "I liked that you were a smart girl. This is what I need."

XXX

Hanekoma was talented at doing unspeakable amounts of work in very little time. His talent had reached its peak as he looked at this new task. Creating the seal Joshua asked for was nearly complete, but he had 2 weeks work and 2 days to do it. Nanami didn't see how he could draw that quickly and then flawlessly draw another seal. She had no idea how much detail was in what he was working until now. A seal seemed simple at first glance, but inside the seal, were smaller seals. The whole symbol was a conglomeration of hundreds of tiny seals. Any one of them could ruin the whole thing. Nanami didn't see why he was doing this now of all times. "Hanekoma... are you sure about this? Joshua may just be going off the deep-end."

Hanekoma couldn't refute Nanami. Joshua was by nature a risk taker, but this war ridiculous. This time Joshua risked everything, on one small gamble. What Joshua intended to do with this seal was clear enough to Hanekoma. "This seal can be used to call Noise in an area to one place... It forces them to combine to form what we call Perfect Noise. A ruling class of Noise. They could take nearly any type of form. It's a means to begin the clash. By leaving these seals we don't have to fight all the Noise, just the very strongest of them. For better or worse that's Joshua's plan of attack."

Nanami handed him a cup of coffee fresh from his shop. The older man thanked her and explained, "There's only one thing he could do with this..." Nanami took a guess, "He's making it to where we don't have to slay an army, just their Goliath." Or... the plural version of Goliath. Goliaths?

What was worse was Nanami remembered the day before. Weiss for the first time had shown a face she hated. A face that wanted to see the city of Shibuya reduced to ash. The person in Weiss' body wasn't him. It was an angel, but what she didn't get was how much control did the real Weiss still have." Hanekoma, what happens to Weiss when that angel leaves? Is that angel really him and did he absorb the real Weiss?"

Hanekoma stopped his work to think. How best to explain? It wasn't an easy concept explaining how angels came to earth. "Let me start by saying this: angels can't appear in the real world. They're purely a soul, thus the massive Soul power that surpasses humans. If one were to enter the human world he'd need a body to bind himself to it."

Nanami caught on, "Like... did you make that body before coming here?"

Hanekoma scratched the back of his head and enlightened her, "No... this is different than Weiss. My body can't act on it's own... The Weiss you know is what we angels call a Construct. Constructs are bodies that are given limited personalities and knowledge that an angel can access. In the case of Weiss, the Director made the body personally. He wasn't born, his memories are blank because he was made literally after the event with Neku. That body was made as a vessel for the angels to use although I'll admit it has a strange amount of human personality. Most constructs don't act like Weiss... in fact he's the first I've seen that could pass as human. I can't tell you everything about Weiss, but at the moment the Director gave that angel temporary control over Weiss. The angel has been controlling Weiss directly ever since then."

Nanami didn't like the sound of that. It sounded to her like Weiss was nothing more than just some AI in a human body. No, that couldn't be all he was. Certainly he was more than just a body for an angel to use. "So... he's not a real person."

Hanekoma didn't know a better way of putting it, "Well... he's certainly not a normal human being... but... Weiss has existed for 6 years. He's learned from humans over 6 years and he's learned about Shibuya... the angel hasn't experienced everything his Construct has. He's only been controlling him from the Angel Plane. He never really... felt... what Weiss did. Your experiences with Weiss may have shaped the construct somehow." Hanekoma kept his real suspicions to himself. There was more than that he was sure, but he couldn't really talk or theorycraft about Weiss right now.

It was hard to explain, in fact it was near impossible. To express the difference between the construct and the angel controlling it. This wasn't a subject Hanekoma wanted to touch, "Listen... don't give up on Weiss. He may seem like he and the angel are the same... but... He's not. The angel who's controlling him, well, he doesn't get Shibuya. He wants this place to be destroyed. The angel may have been modifying Weiss' memory... but he didn't control everything. I think we may yet see the real Weiss back before the end. Weiss originally hated Shibuya too, but he didn't seem to keep that opinion."

The ex-Producer turned around and went back to work on his seal. "Stay sharp kiddo... I got a lot of work head of me. I need you to keep that coffee coming. I'm dead tomorrow, I'll get plenty of sleep then." He was sure pausing a lot between his speaking.

Nanami nodded, but she felt like this wasn't enough. She wanted to do something; anything in fact. The girl had remained inactive most of the week. It's true she didn't need to work on many missions, but the thing was, she saw so much wrong with the city. Helping Hanekoma was great, but serving him coffee over and over again wasn't really working for her. As fate had it, someone entered the coffee shop to give her something else to do. It was Thanatos.

XXX

Kariya was in pretty good shape considering he just slaughtered about 18 players. In his sights there weren't any left. He looked left and right, from what he could tell he killed, "Absolutely no one who'd be a threat... Damn, it hurts to be this good." A voice from a rooftop spoke to him, "You didn't think it'd be that easy did you." It was the Agent, wearing Weiss as a body. His power however was far beyond the normal Weiss, but Kariya could tell that by just looking at him. Well more than that he'd seen Weiss yesterday in the whole mammoth noise mess. The smug look, the silver eyes, the white and red suit. He'd be a runner up for a Joshua cosplay based on his facial expression alone. Kariya was worried he'd show up himself. At a guess, he'd say he had about a 5% chance of actually beating him.

The angel didn't see Uzuki, "Where's that girl who's always with you? She abandon you so she wouldn't die too?"

Kariya honestly told him after a chuckle, "Other way around... So... you got a beef with me, do you?"

The angel in Weiss' body somehow looked different just by the expressions he wore. "Beef? Such odd expressions... No, I have no ill will against you... but you know... You're one of Joshua's pawns. I'm just taking a few pieces before the end of the game. It's nothing personal. I rather like your spunk, you know full well you'd lose... yet you let me come to you instead of running? I might think of sparing you if that were possible."

The reaper didn't really think running did much other than make himself tired, "Meh, I don't suppose I could cut some kind of deal with you where I could get out of this in one piece?"

The angel flipped his hair and told him straight out, "I'm not a second rate villain. Those sort of villains belong in a fanfic. No... I'm the sort of villain who knows full well who not to leave alive. You're the type who's going to be a hindrance to me at a later date. Joshua is crafty enough to find some use for you, and that alone is good enough reason to be rid of you. As you recall, I am still a player. Well this human is a player anyway. He's actually the best body I've used in a while. Normal humans wouldn't have the capacity to hold my Soul."

Kariya got what Weiss was doing, "You're killing off anyone who isn't your pawn. I see how this is. But seeing as you haven't attacked me yet, not that I'm complaining. But you have some other business?"

The angel didn't seem to be in any hurry to erase Kariya, it even seemed like he was waiting for someone., "I don't have other business, but I'm also in no hurry to erase you. You see erasing you holds little real value. In the grand scheme of things removing one Reaper from the game only serves to lessen the already low chance of my being erased."

Kariya shrugged, at least he'd die knowing he needn't have much self esteem, "What's your issue with Shibuya? I mean... the noise are a problem... but is it really worth killing a whole city over a little noise?"

The reaper more or less had an idea of what was going on but he wanted the full version. "The real question I got... is why are you so hellbent on destroying it? Did we do something to offend you personally you seem to have a grudge?"

The angel crossed both arms with both eyes toward the sky. He didn't really have a prepared speech like most villains, "How to put it... you've hurt a friend of mine?"

Kariya cocked his head, "Pardon?"

The angel tried to reword it, "I came to this city out of response from the game 6 years ago. The sheer number of rules broken forced someone like me to turn my sights here. The order was given to destroy Shibuya long ago... but... Hanekoma... my friend."

Kariya tried guessing, "He didn't want the city destroyed? He liked it too much? I thought he was one of the rulebreakers."

The Agent explained more about the angel plane, "Hanekoma... he's well loved by the angels... But even he couldn't call this off. So... he asked for time to prove to us Shibuya could stop the Noise. The Director often leaves such decisions in the hands of another. Hanekoma asked for the Director to look deeper into Shibuya and he would see what was worth saving. The noise... they've more or less doomed all of Tokyo. Even if we didn't destroy the city... they would. And they'd destroy others with it. They'd spread across Japan and eventually find humans to latch onto and spread. We're just stopping the damage here. That's my job. It's my decision whether or not the city is destroyed. I've decided that it's best for your world's interest to destroy this city. Tokyo is but a small part of a whole. It is better to remove the infected tumor than for the body to suffer."

Kariya shrugged and nodded, "Well... can't say I blame you... we made the noise in this area... Still you're counting out a number of things that could save the city."

What Kariya said intrigued the angel, "Such as?"

The reaper pulled out another lolipop and unwrapped it, "Well... Shibuya is full of people... creative... imaginative... people willing to fight for it."

The angel seemed irritated by Kariya saying this, "Your point?"

Kariya chuckled as the angel knew what he was going to say next, "We could beat the Noise... you've seen this place... We're strong. If every one of us fought... there's no noise that could stand a chance."

The angel paused for a moment and then bowed his head a moment with both hands clasped, "So what you're saying... is I should risk the safety of the entire world... to save this one city?"

Kariya shrugged, "More or less."

The angel was baffled at the moment, "You realize how ludicrous that sounds?"

Kariya nodded, "Totally."

This was too much for the Agent to handle, "Any other questions? I don't hate your city... But I do hate your Composer... He took a good angel. Hanekoma is our best Producer... Because of your Composer we took disciplinary action against Hanekoma. Even now Hanekoma helps that fool... instead of siding with his own kind." The Agent sounded pained by the thought of Hanekoma being killed because of Joshua. It wasn't fair in his mind at all. Kariya didn't let the angel off the hook, he was still an asshole for killing people who didn't need to be. He was acting like Joshua, using others as tools.

Kariya smiled, "Nah, think I'm good. Well... Other than asking if there's a way I could live through this."

The Agent sighed and shook his head, "No... leaving you alive could prove to be a fatal mistake... Kotori and Uzuki will have to come later. I was hoping to erase them too. But it seems you abandoned them. Well... no matter."

Weiss raised his hand to point it at Kariya, "Believe me when I say killing you is not of your making. Your death was the making of the Composer. Perhaps I shall petition the angels to bring you back after the city is destroyed. Sho will need a good officer."

Kariya laughed, "Good deal. Make it quick. But instead of me could you bring back someone else instead?"

The angel listened, "Who?"

"Uzuki."

The Angel thought that was fine. "In exchange for how willing you were to make my job easy and due to the fact your death was not of your own making, I shall see to it she is brought back. The Director is a fine leader, he will be certain to bring her back. Perhaps you as well."

A single powerful blast flew from the palm of the hand of the angel. The blast closed in Kariya's chest, the reaper made no attempt at escaping. With closed eyes he embraced his death and after a moment of silence he heard an explosion, but felt no pain.

"Wow... that was painless."

When he opened his eyes he saw Uzuki standing in front him who stopped the blast with her own. "BAKA!" Her fist cracked over the head of Kariya, "Don't you ever die on me! Got it! You gotta live! Who else am I going to loose bets to? Who else am I going to treat ramen to? Who else is going to be there to see me get my promotion? I need you alive! If you die, I'm going to go to hell and drag you out!"

The angel didn't seem to be happy or sad she showed up, "So you did show up... This was very rash and impulsive. However I can't say I don't admire you for trying. Kariya, I am going to kill you both and petition to resurrect you both. That should be acceptable, should it not?"

Uzuki challenged him, "Hell no, I'm not going to let you kill him or me! You can take your mission and shove it! How's this for a new mission! Defeat the pissed off Reaper!"

Kariya shook his head, "This guy could kill both of us. Even if we could beat him... I don't think there's any way for us to live through this mess anyway."

Uzuki growled at Kariya and took the time to scold him, "You're always giving up! You always quit! You never fight for what you want! You never go after what you care about!"

Kariya wanted to yell at her, so he did, "Giving up could have saved your life! It still can! You never knew when to quit! Your dream will get you killed! That's why I never wanted to see you promoted! I never wanted to see you die! You wanna know why I'm dying? Because I'm a high ranking reaper... that's the only reason."

Before the angel could chime in Uzuki spat out her response, "It's because you gave up! If you fought for you life... really fought you could live! If you had fought... I'd... We'd... We could have been more you know! Why didn't you fight for me! You always wanted to! Why didn't you!"

Kariya was speechless as he looked at her without an answer. He never did fight to get her... he never did advance to make himself and her something more. It wasn't his style and it wasn't something he was used to. Uzuki looked more out of character than she'd ever been. She turned around and confessed, "I... Always liked you too... I always hoped that you'd just come out and say it..." Kariya was silent as he looked at the floor. Uzuki went on, "Just... when we get out of this... fight for me... ok?"

There was a moment where they both looked at each other and then the orange haired reaper nodded, "Alright. I'll fight for ya. But you need to take it easy more if I do."

Uzuki scoffed, "As if I could take it easy." Kariya and Uzuki started to sound like an old married couple, "I mean it. Stop trying to get promoted all the time, it's a pain when you do get promoted." Uzuki countered, still ignoring her opponent, "Take some responsibility, don't just be slackin around all your life."

The angel felt like he was interrupting something. "I almost feel bad for needing to kill you. Oh well. I enjoy you're both here now. I'll deal with you both here as partners. Fight for what good it will do."

XXX

Kotori had to move quickly. For the first time in a very long career she could get back what belonged to her. The terms of Joshua's deal were all surprisingly easy all details considered. The tasks he gave her weren't something she could fail at as long as she tried. The first task was before her, find Okami. The wolf reaper wasn't one to easily be found. He was moving fast, what he was up to didn't matter. She just needed to find out what new power he had been given and deal with him. There's no telling what kind of madness the angel's were planning. If anything Okami was going to be suckered into a plan much bigger than himself. He'd fall into whatever empty promises they gave him. Then she wondered about Sho? Was going to be betrayed at the last minute? Was he going to be erased with the rest of the city? Sho was a great deal more difficult to deceive than Okami. He didn't have any need to of a real authority figure, Sho hated authority. Okami admired anyone he deemed above him. Kotori obviously wasn't one he respected.

If you got down to the details, Okami admired raw power and people who regularly showed their strength. Kotori always used powers other than hers. Rules? Other players? Other Reapers. She got things done without raising a finger. Usually with information warfare, that's something Okami could never respect. Sho while never fighting, had stories of how he fought against the Composer. He had that animal in his gaze that Okami could respect. Kotori personally feared it. The Conductor was a loose cannon. One day he'd just explode in the wrong direction. Even the angels probably didn't know what they were dealing with.

No, Kotori couldn't think about such things. She had her price to think about. It was something she'd kill to get back, and she very well planned to. She wouldn't kill for much either. Although Okami was basically a free pass. He deserved to die at this point. He betrayed Shibuya and more or less left Tokyo to die in exchange for power. That was one motivation Kotori wouldn't ever follow: power. Obtaining power is pointless. Power only makes you a target of those with powers. You may have your desires for but a moment, but if you have power someone shall always try to take it from you. In fantasy there were beings of absolute power. But those beings weren't children's gods. They were careful and often suffered more than those with no power.

Joshua was powerful, but it could fool you how often he got to do what he wanted. He used his powers carefully and often he found himself in the position of suffering. As much as a monster he seemed, power is what made him less than human. What would he be without it? What would he be if he weren't Composer? Happy. He'd be happy. Now the best he could do was pretend to be happy.

Joshua had a plan. A plan that went on for days in advance, her timer said enough. If her timer indicated how long Joshua intended to use her, it was for 6 days if you included the day she was on now. If Joshua had planned that far ahead, she'd be impressed, but knowing Joshua... it wasn't too much of a stretch to say he'd plan that far ahead. She hadn't known Joshua long, but the Composer was the king of craft. To her, she could outplan every reaper, overpower every player and yet the Composer always outshined them all. It was maddening to think he was so easily foiled by the angels. It's true that he was up against a strong opponent, but it seemed like the angel underestimated Joshua. Every tiny move he made could add up in the end. He'd played dumb before. They could put bar him with rules, they could take away all of his allies but nothing could make just lay down and accept defeat. He was going to get his clash, whether the angels liked it or not. Kotori's missions were just a small part of him having his way.

Kotori hated never knowing what was going on. She only knew the bare minimum. She was a pawn in a much bigger game. Kariya and Uzuki were pawns too. All the players were pawns. Even Neku was being manipulated, the thought of that boy only made her move even faster. "I have to get my price back..."

XXX

The agent had enough, "If I may interject this lover's quarrel, I believe you should start to say your goodbyes." That fight was so painfully short it wasn't worth describing.

Uzuki didn't believe it was over, "We're not dead, pal!"

She zipped around hurling bolts of light. And Kariya kept the flow going with his own personal cocktail of big bangs.

The angel muttered something, "This world isn't a video game, this world isn't a manga, this world isn't some college student's fanfic... this is real... In the real world you need to acknowledge when you can't win... and cut your losses. You may think if you try hard enough you can beat anything... but that's not what happens. Trying won't save you and it won't save this city! "

He avoided their blasts as he spoke. He cut through their defensive barriers then he unleashed at a touch a blast of light that sent Uzuki sprawling to the ground.

"Can you accept reality for what it is? Cruel?" He said.

It seems she couldn't. She spit on his suit.

The Agent revealed his power to both of them. A vortex of energy surrounded him, his eyes took a silver glow. "I reference games since Shibuya is full of them. I reference manga since you're surrounded by it. If this were a game... I'd be the last boss... If this were a manga, I'd be the antagonist. As this is reality, I am more the true defender of the world. I'm working for the good guys. You humans and your stories always love to play the good guys as the underdogs, as a force weaker than evil. Embrace reality. The forces of good have always looked down upon evil. Evil likes to pretend that they are greater or even they are our equal? It's laughable. They constantly ignore that we are the very ones who keep humans from annihilating themselves. No matter how you look at it, you won't beat me here. Surrender this worthless city and your lives. Do what must be done!" After he shouted his last sentence he fired a golden blast of light from his palm which both of them dived to different sides to avoid.

Kariya pointed out, "You missed what'd you be in a fanfic."

The angel hit him with a pillar of light which must have been out of annoyance. It looked like something Joshua might use, "Enough talk then."

Uzuki came in to strike at the angel only to be blown back by pure telekinetic force. Then she pulled out a gun to shoot him at a distance every shot was deflected by his gaze. A beam of light came falling from the sky and then hit Uzuki. "You can't come to blows with me. Give in!" The angel seemed to be taking this personally. It's like he wanted them to give up even though he could kill them at any time. To him this was proving to the people of Shibuya that the city couldn't be saved. If he could break Kariya and Uzuki, it would prove to himself the city wasn't worth saving. From behind him Kariya fired a strong single bolt which hit the Agent's sword. The explosion went off and made the bolt explode into lots of little darts which came falling back down at the angel. Hopefully that got him.

He responded by appearing by Kariya and giving him a fierce palm strike to the chest. After the strike a blast of gold energy greeted Kariya next. "Talk about a one-two punch..." Kariya muttered as he was blown back.

The angel wasn't through, he turned to see Uzuki launch a blast at him as a last resort. His telekinesis was her enemy. He blew it back and forced her to move.. She could avoid it, but not the pillar of light that came next. There was smoke from where she stood, but she wouldn't fall down.

"Do you think if you can keep fighting that it'll make a difference? Think of fighting the hordes of noise. Think of yourself fighting them, think of every attack you use being completely nullified by the sheer disruption. Imagine not being able to think or feel... That's what I'm going to stop. The clash must never happen!"

The Agent grabbed Uzuki by the neck and sent her off in the direction of Kariya with a throw. "Even if your spirits didn't break... even if you stood and fought them all... you'd still die. Do you think dying would stop the noise from spreading? No! You'd all fail!"

Kariya chuckled at the angel. In fact he just started laughing as if he had just heard a merry joke, "Just who are you trying to convince? Us? Sounds to me like you're insecure about this idea..."

The gave a look of sheer disgust to the reaper. His blood boiled from what seemed to be the ultimate insult. "Are you questioning my resolve?" The angel asked in a most offended manner.

Uzuki slowly rose to her feet, "Aren't you? You seem to have mixed feelings about doing what you're doing."

The angel began to shout, "Who do you take me for? Do you think me a fool! I admit it! I truly do not want to erase this city! I want to believe that you all could do it! But it's not possible! I know full well what must be done! Everyone else is letting their pride cloud their judgment! The noise are stronger than every living thing in Shibuya. Even if the clash did happen... and somehow you did succeed... there'd still be nothing left of Shibuya... it still would be destroyed. So ask yourself this! Ask it! Do you think I'm doing this because I want to? Do you think I am simply some evil force that must be stopped? This isn't a fanfic! I'm not just another foe for you to slay! I'm not just another obstacle to remove! I'm the one who's trying to save all of you! I'm the one who's making sure that this city doesn't die forever! The city can be rebuilt after the noise are destroyed... Everything that I intend to break can be rebuilt! Don't you get it?"

A soft feminine voice spoke from behind the angel, "You're fighting with yourself."

It was Nanami. She was with Thanatos who agreed, "You're conflicted."

The angel turned to see them both behind him, "You're mistaken... My mind has been made up long ago. The only conflict is my wish that you were all stronger. There's no way to make you strong enough..."

Nanami said something that struck the angel in the soul, "You're conflicting with the body you're in... Weiss doesn't want you to give up."

Weiss was still in his head?

The Agent scoffed at the very idea, "A construct? A body with an artificial personality and mind? Conflicting with me?!"

Thanatos kept his hands in his pockets as he spoke, "You're yelling... The Weiss I knew would never yell."

The angel paused a moment and regained himself, "Could this body be used... as means to get to me... yes... this body is indeed clouding my judgment. That doesn't sound impossible. Regardless... I have unfinished business with the game master, care to help?"

Nanami and Thanatos took a look a much weakened Uzuki and Kariya. Both of them barely able to stand. The angel clearly liked to hear himself talk, "You see your mission is very clear. Erase the game master. If you do not, you'll be erased. So did you come to give me a hand?"

It was clear they weren't thrilled about the mission, but they were players. They needed to survive as much as he did. It was clear that they'd have to help him.

"Go ahead, I'll let you do the killing blow. I hate staining my hands with unnecessary violence." The Agent told them.

The players took a good look at Kariya and Uzuki and Nanami pulled out her notebook. She walked over to the tired and beaten reapers.

Kariya looked up at her with defeated eyes, "Why do I get the feeling... you're not going to erase me."

Nanami explained calmly, "Because I'm not."

She stood in between the angel and Kariya. "I won't let you hurt him."

The tired angel sighed, "Alright... I can just as easily erase all three of you."

Thanatos walked in the way as well, "Don't forget she's still pacted with Hanekoma."

The angel paused and thought about it. His palm was charging up with energy and then stopped, "Using an old friend as a hostage... how cruel."

Thanatos went on, "I'm still pacted with you. If you got into a fight with me... You'd have a real hard time making sure I wasn't erased."

The angel kept silent a moment, "I see... So you intend to be erased by the mission..."

Thanatos clarified, "I intend to see what the end of the week brings. Your bossman made me a promise. One I don't think you heard."

It's true even the Agent couldn't hear the Director when he wasn't spoken to. But this was a bluff, nothing more. "I will erase you all if I must."

"Can you?"

"I have more than enough power to erase you."

Nanami repeated the question, "Can you?" He couldn't.

Weiss was having a huge impact on the angel in his head. It may have been an angel, but apparently using Weiss as a body had side effects. It seemed the feelings of Weiss were conflicting with the angel. Certainly not something the Agent predicted. Something like this was an anomaly at best.

It seemed things were at a standstill for now. No one really had an easy way to make a move. The Agent both in body and mind couldn't kill Nanami for multiple reasons. If he attacked he might hit Nanami. The angel started to calculate how much energy he'd need to destroy Kariya and just Kariya without the possibility of hitting Nanami. He played it out in his head. He could hit Kariya now, yes. But kill him?

There was a chance one of the others were going to try to stop him as well. It was entirely possible that he could erase just Kariya, but the question still remained of how to do it when those that surrounded him could come to his rescue.

He thought.

And thought.

He couldn't act. If he did kill Nanami that would also erase Hanekoma, due to the partnership. The Agent neither wanted nor was allowed to do anything to erase another angel. Even one that lost all previous rights. He couldn't erase Thanatos. One because that was nearly impossible considering Joshua took his ability to be erased as a price. It's true that there were still ways to erase him... but the fact the Director foretold that he'd have to make a decision at the end of the week? The Agent couldn't do a thing to conflict against the Director's word. It wasn't a matter of couldn't in the sense he wasn't allowed to. He actually couldn't. No angel could move against the Director's word.

He didn't relax. He just watched and waited for an opening. Humans would lose focus eventually. All he had to do was wait for them to slip up their concentration then he could finish of Kariya without a hitch.

Then came a hitch. Everyone's phone buzzed. It was a mission mail. It's one that didn't match the mail given previously.

_Change of equation! Noise Yoctogram. Yoctograms must move ≥ speed of noise. All yoctograms prepare to be crunched within 2 days! -__**The X Conductor**_

After each one of them looked at their phones there was a moment of complete silence. Did that mean the mission changed? The rules were only one mission per day, he wasn't allowed to do this.

The Agent felt a hint of rage. He'd been double crossed. By changing the mission Sho had deviated from the plan. And deviated it in such a way where it threw a serious monkey wrench in his plans for the day. By changing the mission mail he thought of the implications. What would happen if the Conductor changed the mission halfway through the day? Well... That would mean the decision would be placed in the hands of the Composer. In fact that was the only logical end for any dispute.

The Agent got Sho, because his rank allowed him to override the Game Master. Joshua while Composer had his hands tied not to make any moves. Any tiny rule break or bend could result in his own erasure. So that meant Joshua effectively had to let whatever mission showed up fly. Even when Joshua told Kariya to change the mission earlier in the week, he asked. Kariya was the one to change it. Now that Sho was no longer a pawn of the Angels that meant that once again, the mission decisions were in the hands of the Composer.

Damn.

Another piece of mail came. As expected, it was from Joshua.

_All missions are henceforth canceled, due to this delightful surprise. -__**The Composer**_

The Agent frowned, his new problem was no longer with Kariya. If Sho Minamimoto went renegade and the mission was over, "It seems my business with you, Game Master, has come to an abrupt halt."

The Agent dismissed his glow sword and started walking away.

All the players looked at one another and Kariya looked at Uzuki. The pink haired reaper had an honest question, "What... just... happened?" Did that maniac just walk away?

The annoyed angel thought for a moment, "One of my pawns has gone against my wishes in favor of his own. This has left an opening for the Composer to put an end to your death. I suppose this is fine. There is more than one way to kill a Composer." He vanished.

Nanami didn't get it, "How come Joshua didn't change the mission sooner? Or the one yesterday?"

The Game Master explained while pulling out a fresh lolipop, "Well... from what I understand, the Composer is really only supposed to change a mission if the Conductors isn't possible. Or there's some sort of error. Really this week is a special case considering the Composer's never had someone overseeing him. The Composer never had to follow rules before. Or at least he could get away with breaking them. Lately he's been having to follow the letter of the law."

It seemed Joshua canceling the mission actually saved Kariya from certain death. However you had to wonder where he scampered off to. And what the hell was Sho talking about? Why did he make a mission if Joshua could just cancel it? Why screw over the angel? Did he know something everyone else didn't? No, more likely he was just being Sho. Sho didn't like being controlled. Ever. Even when he was controlled he was as difficult as possible. His ego might have been stronger than he was.

His mission mentioned Noise. Considering the power of the Noise they made before, you could only guess that he was going to make something unbelievable. The Noise over the last six years have reached critical mass. Was he making Noise?

XXX

Making noise was exactly what he was doing. The Conductor had made his own modifications to the seal the angels got Okami to put down. All one had to do was pour negative emotion to draw noise to that spot and they'd forcibly combine. It wasn't too hard to figure out.

Well it wasn't for him, for normal minds it'd be impossible.

Sho Minamimoto was pouring his own energy into it. He poured a lot into it actually. Making another Noise entirely form his massive Soul power. He went from area to area modifying the seals ever so slightly to create a noise ever so slightly different than the original blueprint. It had taken him all day to do it, which was inhumanly fast, but now it was time to see the fruits of his labor. The man smiled as he admired his math. To him his plan was simply a giant math equation, all variables accounted for. "Listen up you angles!" Angle was Sho's word for 'Angel'. "I'm going to become Composer with or without your help! Factor this! Any reaper can take a city, but I'll take the world!"

With both hands placed on the seal he let loose taboo energy into the seal. As his energy poured so too did noise. A monstrous taboo noise started to appear. It's colors were gray and black. It appeared with force and made the seal it came from explode.

The noise let loose a powerful roar as the sky darkened, "A tantalizing tangent... I'll call you Zero. A fitting name for a Noise of your power." It was going to take a Composer to kill that thing.

The Noise looked at the Conductor and tried to let out an intimidating roar. But Sho walked up to the roaring dragon and looked the beast in the eye, "That's right... You're zero... I'm infinity... Pick any number besides ours... and if you multiply us by any such number... we'll always be the same. We don't change, Zero. We're beyond normal numbers... normal fractions. We're special."

The dragon seemed to calm down as if it were respecting Sho Minamimoto. With a dull rasp it stepped back. It was bound to him.

"With the seal broken Taboo noise should flood this city... turning this place into nothing but a garbage dump."

More and more noise started appearing, "All the noise who come out of this seal are Taboo. Like me they'll be special." Sho Minamimoto was a master of taboo, only he could control these Noise. And with the seal broken the way it was, there was no telling how many taboo noise could wreck havoc on the rest of the city. He fully intended to trigger the end of the world.

Sho pulled out his phone and tapped on it. "Sorry angles... but why be Composer... when you could be God?" After a send button he let the whole world know what side he stood on, his own. "After I'm through with Shibuya... Where should I stop? Ha! Why ever stop! I'll take everything! I'll show everyone what I was saying all along! The world is garbage! The world has always ignored it's garbage. The noise aren't just strong enough to beat Shibuya... they're strong enough to kill destroy every underground in the world."

With a tip of his hat he walked forward with one hand in his coat and behind him Taboo noise appeared one after another. They'd keep spawning from the many seals around the city until someone disrupted each of the seals.

"Start running... Try to outrun the speed of light. Try dividing Zero... see what happens. Run and hide little yoctograms. Rattle your chains, Composer. Scowl and talk, Agent. What can you do, but fade away?"

End Day 6

[One more chapter to edit before starting the final chapter.

Please comment, it throws the dog a biscuit. And it makes the dog get on his computer to write more.]

-0er0 out


	14. Week Two, Day Seven: Why not?

(Alrighty I'm excited to say I'll be working on my next chapter after this. At which point the story shall be complete. If you see any loose ends, let me know. If you see any typos pm me and let me know. If you see any dinosaurs walking around in traffic... well I don't know if I can do anything about that, but do let me know.)

Week 2, Day Seven: Why Not

"_Neku, even if you don't remember me... even if you hate me forever. I won't stop watching, I'll make myself be apart of your life someday, even if it costs my soul."_

"_Your price will be returned. But something so valuable lost is difficult to obtain again. It will take time."_

"_If you allow it... I'll start repaying you immediately. I'll do whatever you ask."_

"_You'll serve me as a reaper, you'll play a very long game. A game that extends a lifespan. You chose his life over your own... prepare to give it. By my the power invested in me as Composer of Shibuya, I welcome you to the reapers... Kotori."_

Neku awoke with a jump out of his bed. He huffed, what was that? Why couldn't he remember what he just heard? Why was he thinking of this now? Why couldn't he think of it? What was driving him nuts? Was it the stress of the week? Was it the fact he had to manage evacuating everyone he could in and outside his company? Everything that could be wrong seemed to happen.

His fiance was much slower to open her eyes and rest herself in an upright position. "Neku?"

The grown man huffed in panic as if he remembered something that was lost. "I... I need a moment. I just remembered something." He didn't really. The truth was he wanted to know what he needed to remember. Neku felt this before, his memory had been stolen? Was it Joshua? Did Joshua take a memory of his? No... It was something else. Something from before he met Joshua.

Shiki didn't need a bigger hint that something was wrong. At the same time, there were times you questioned what to ask. Neku was troubled, any number of things could be troubling him, but a nightmare seemed a bit excessive. Usually he was composed in troubled times. Neku actually got out of bed and paced a moment in the bathroom while his fiance looked into the unlit room. He didn't even turn the lights on, he just paced. Was he trying to think? If he wanted to think he should start with getting some real sleep. She could still see he was worried. For one she could feel it and for two her eyes got used to the darkness after sleeping so long.

Neku seemed to be half asleep too. "I just remembered something long ago. I can't quite place it... I should be able to place it but I can't."

Shiki cocked her head, "What did you remember?" The woman at this point was the only voice of reason and in fact the only available voice to reason with.

Neku told her what he remembered, "My mother died when I was born. They claimed it was a miracle I lived after the accident we lived through. My mother... I can't remember her. I've seen pictures of her, but..."

Shiki paused a moment to think, his mother? He had never brought her up before. In fact, Shiki had never seen a picture of his mom before. The bride to be asked, "Do you remember her name?"

Neku paused a moment and shook his head, "I've been told many times... why can't I remember? And... why is this suddenly bothering me now?"

Shiki looked out the window coldly and then back at Neku, "Your mother... she played the game didn't she? The reaper's game." That was a pretty big jump. But considering that she died at childbirth... anyone who died would have played the Reaper's Game right?

That sounded logical enough, "Probably."

So Shiki took another shot in the dark after Neku began, "You lived and she didn't... if you should have died... does that mean you actually won the game? As a baby?"

Neku shook his head, "I've never seen babies playing the reaper's game. I assume they're not of the age to play."

Shiki pointed out, "But your mother would play the game. What would a mother's price be?"

Neku saw where she was going with this, "It'd have something to do with a newborn child. But since she died... she must have lost the game and her price."

Shiki frowned, "Maybe it was that you wouldn't remember her. Or care about her?"

Neku shrugged, "It's in the past now... let's try to get some sleep. We're heading to the airport tomorrow..."

Shiki nodded a moment and then questioned to herself, _That woman I saw earlier... She looked young... but how old was she?_

XXXXXXXXXX

The shrink had been in his practice for 8 years. Young enough to be considered young by the other older doctors, but old enough to be respected.

The psychologist had dealt with a number of patients none of them had been so... morbid.

"Last night... I saw a little girl... She asked me for help. I checked to see if I was awake."

His patient began, a small child of the age of four. The psychologist didn't bother taking notes, he just leaned forward and listened as he read every detail the boy's body language would write. Fear, uncertainty, sadness and even still more fear. "I watched her... she was eaten by a monster... I couldn't help her... I ran and hid... I always run and hide."

The boy looked away as if he thought he was a coward. The psychologist began his questions, "What did she look like, Joshua?"

The frail boy was pale and seemed to lack sleep. This was the first time his parents suggested a powerful sleep aid for the poor boy. Four year olds normally don't have trouble sleeping.

"Do you think I imagined it? Do you think she wasn't real?" Joshua tested to see if this man was like his parents or friends, they all thought he was crazy.

The psychologist asked him a question, "What do you think? Did you imagine it?"

Joshua gulped and showed surprising maturity for his age, "Honestly, I can't tell what's real or not anymore. Everyone says I'm crazy... who's to say their wrong? I'm scared to say she was real... because... if I say that she was that'd make me crazy. I don't want to be crazy." The boy fought back anxious tears. The boy was found in his room quivering in fear of monsters no one but him could see.

Stories of tattooed beasts... people dying. The boy was troubled enough to force his conservative parents to seek professional help right away. Normally they wouldn't go to doctors, but this was serious.

"Joshua... I'm happy to tell you a secret. I don't think anyone is really sane. As a man in my profession. I hardly think you being afraid of frightening sights makes you crazy. I think it means something, true. But it doesn't mean you're crazy. Tell me what the girl looked like. Do you remember?"

The psychologist often believed his patients to a fault. That was the trick. Don't pretend to believe actually believe them.

"You think I actually saw them?... You don't think I'm lying?" The moment someone believes you, you want to tell the truth. Any psychologist knows this. The trick to believing someone is just that. Assume they aren't crazy and hear them out. Remove all condescending thoughts and belittling comments.

Joshua looked up from behind his hugged knees. And was watching closely. One wrong word and that boy was going to close up.

"No, I don't think you're lying." The man said calmly, but unsure of what disorder he actually possessed. Schizophrenia seemed a likely diagnosis. Perhaps he had a night terror or suffered some other trauma and this was his way of coping. There was too little information to say. The boy was clinically speaking... insane. The man for the first time in a week grabbed his notepad. "How long have you seen this sort of thing? Is it the same thing?"

Joshua confessed with his eyes looking out the window, "There's always tattooed monsters. There's always people I can see but no one else can. I see more and more every day... I'm... I'm scared... can you make it stop?" The boy's eyes were begging at the man to help. After looking at the notepad he initialed a number of boxes and made a few notes. "I don't know if medication will help... but I want you to try it... it'll take a week or two to see if it works. It's all trial and error from here, Yoshua."

Trial and error? Funny he'd put it that way.

The neighbors questioned what was wrong with the child. Joshua was always staring into space and going into fits when he saw animals no one else did. He saw people no one else did. One neighbor argued that he was abused by his parents. Some argued that he was simply a child desperate for attention. The truth was, he saw the Underground. Which more than anything, could warp a small child in all the wrong ways.

On his way back home he looked at his medication. He frowned at the sight at the bottle. He could still see them. They were everywhere. Noise, players and reapers. He saw all of it. The medication probably wasn't going to have any real effect until next week by what the doctor said. He dreaded waiting that long, he dreaded being haunted by the dead and the noise. It was then Joshua saw a young man running by him at top speed. The boy ran through other people walking in a different direction. Joshua tried his best not to react. He held on to his little bookbag and kept walking until. He saw a girl, older than him. Run by and let out a cry for help. He stopped dead in his tracks as he quivered at the sight of an elephant noise that let out a stomp of impressive power. The girl extended a hand in his direction and was stomped to death. There was no blood and no corpse; there was only a stampeding elephant.

The boy ran as fast as he could away from the awful sight. He dropped his bag and pill bottle and just ran away crying like the child he was. "Make it stop! Make it all stop!" The elephant chased him as if he were a player. It swung its mighty tusk and it swiped through the boy harmlessly. But he still ran in fear, he knew it couldn't touch him, the creatures he saw never could. But he always feared one day he might be one of those people who were killed by them every day. Joshua's running stopped with a thud against another man's leg.

He pleaded with the man, "Make it go away." Joshua started to moan as it was pointless. Nothing ever made them go away.

No one ever helped him, no one, but this man wasn't no one.

"Sure thing, chief."

The man was Hanekoma, he didn't look a day younger than he had ever been. The man helped the small child up with an extended hand. Joshua accepted it and rose to his feet. When the elephant tried to attack the noise exploded into energy with an impressive looking palm strike from Hanekoma. He gave the kid a friendly smile. He made the monster go away. Someone could make the monsters go away.

Joshua stood there, dumbstruck, "Who are you?"

The man told him on a knee, "Hanekoma, you can call me Mr. H if you'd like."

The boy turned and looked at the now gone noise, "What was that thing?"

Hanekoma calmly explained that it was a Noise. Hanekoma solemnly told him that what he saw was the Underground. He often explained to adults how he explained it to a little kid. He used examples as best he could. It's tricky when dealing with someone young, they don't know how anything works. But Joshua understood. He was very bright for his age. Hanekoma secretly looked into the boy and saw his creativity/imagination. "If you want I'll tell you more at a coffee shop. I love those places."

He was talking to strangers. He totally forgot his pill bottle. But at least now he felt at peace.

The small boy kept listening as the older man gave him answers, real answers. Ones that satisfied him beyond any medication, "So... the Underground?"

Joshua had to learn more, he'd talk to him every day if he had to. He'd learn everything about what he saw. He had to learn it all and Hanekoma had to keep a smile on his face while he secretly swore to himself at the boy's power. _If he can visibly see the reaper's game now... When that kid's older... he's going to be a god. _How right he was. Joshua was the solution to some of the games biggest problems.

Joshua's 'medication' worked. After a few weeks of 'taking it', the boy had no more outbursts and showed immense progress in school. It wasn't long before the whole incident was dismissed as a childhood hallucination which didn't require medication later. No one even considered the possibility that Joshua hadn't been lying, no one... except this man. The psychologist simply accepted it when Joshua told him that he had a night terror. Bad dreams was nothing to worry about. He knew the difference between his dreams and reality. His parents who weren't often home, were replaced by this simple man. Hanekoma was something of mentor and a real father. Someone with rarely found wisdom about the world beyond. To Joshua: this man was an angel, someone he could trust. How right he was. Hanekoma was the solution to Joshua's biggest problems.

XXXXXXXXXX

Week 2 Day 7: Why not?

"Well this is a surprise." Kariya always began his day with an understatement.

This of course could be followed by an even greater understatement which Joshua made. "Well... we're in a little bit of a mess."

The players were fast asleep, but the reapers had their hands full. The taboo noise were out of control. For the entirety of the last day, they'd grown in number and only now had the original spot been sealed up. Kariya spoke the obvious, "He's probably activated or trying to activate another spot by now."

Joshua agreed with a glance in the direction of Pork City. Uzuki had a question at this point, "What place would he be trying to activate now?"

Joshua could answer that for them, "Pork City... if he makes one of his junk heap seals there... he could have the whole city drowning in taboo noise. He doesn't know why it's dangerous to use." Despite Joshua saying this, he didn't seem worried or even bothered by the noise. He was busy thinking about something or rather, someone else. _Hanekoma..._

Kariya talked with his lollipop between his teeth, "You want us to try to take on the Conductor? Or should we try to deal with whatever noise we can manage?"

Uzuki hoped that they didn't have to do either of those things. They'd die doing either of those things, but she also knew what a cold hearted bastard Joshua was. He had reapers die for much less before. Joshua thought a moment and and eyeballed the sky. Joshua was definitely thinking of something else. The city didn't even seem to matter right now. He wasn't paying much attention to the problem, it was like he was off in a daze. It seemed everything being reported to him just barely mattered enough for him to hear it. But by the way Joshua looked, he already made necessary preparations. Or rather he knew something the others didn't.

Joshua didn't exactly tell them what he intended to do.

Joshua turned and finally gave his orders, "Survive. Protect each other... and the remaining players. Leave the noise to me." Joshua walked off with his hands in his pockets. "But sir... I thought if you used your powers while you were on probation... or did anything out of line." Joshua could only comment, "To hell with the probation... As Composer I'm charged with this city's protection. If the angels kill me for it... fine. I don't need to exist in this weakened state anyway." Uzuki and Kariya felt like their mouths dropped until they hit the ground. "... Sir?" They both said at the same time suffering from a case of immense confusion. "You heard me." The Composer muttered under his breath with no sign of interest in current events. The only thing that mattered now was, _I can't let him die for nothing._ _If anyone needs to die for my selfish purposes... it's me._

XXX

"If anyone needs to die for his own selfish purposes, it's Joshua." The angel said to his subordinate who walked by his side.

The demon wasn't amused with the daunting task before him, "Wouldn't you rather me deal with the Noise?"

The Agent didn't have time for that at all. He needed Charon to do something far more important. "Any moment now... Hanekoma could come up with something. If he had his powers as a Producer he'd have found a seal by now. Even with this handicap there's still the remote possibility of making a new seal with completely different properties. We can't have that."

Charon leered a moment at his boss, "You can't?" His boss seemed more and more foolish with every passing day.

The Agent spoke frankly, "Hanekoma should never have come here an angel of his talents should belong in a more... suitable place. We need to save what we can and move on. Hanekoma will not truly be destroyed, you realize this. And I'm sure you realize that he knew exactly what he did when he made a pact with that Player."

Charon looked ahead, "I still think this city can be saved, Hanekoma was right. If they were to make clever use of their talents. It would be possible to-"

The Agent didn't need to hear it, "That decision is not yours. The Director will most certainly not side with renegades."

The Agent was haughty enough for four men. Angels tended to have big egos, but the Agent was a step above your average narcissist.

Charon nodded with more than a little reluctance, "I believe Joshua is not the coward you make him out to be. But you've given your orders. So then you're sure? Shall I begin?"

The Agent gave the demon an annoyed look which said that he didn't want to verbally speak the order more than once, "Do it."

The demon gave a bow and left without another word.

The annoyed angel remained leaning against a wall, "I'm sorry old friend. But you deserved better than a demon. You were one of our best. Perhaps you still are. But a being of your power must be dealt with by Security."

Hanekoma was indeed a dead man. Could anyone have chosen a more powerful opponent? Perhaps, but there was no one else who could appear in Shibuya. Charon was handy for chasing criminals. Demons could go to lower planes than angels. They could go all the way to the hellplane and back without so much as asking permission. Demons like him were valuable knights. It was rare that you captured one so fierce. Charon made a common mistake back then. The demons always forget just how powerful the angels are. While it's true that angels are bound by all sorts of rules, there's rarely a time you should consider them easy prey. Charon went to a plane high enough for angels to meet him in combat. That's how he met his end.

Charon was chained and brought before the Director. His options were few, but the Director gave him a choice. To be repurposed into human form? Or to be sent to eternal punishment. Not a choice to most, but not all demons choose to work for angels. Charon was a bit above most demons. He obeyed the commands he was given. He followed the letter of the law, not the spirit. If you gave him the slightest excuse to cross the angels he certainly would.

Although Charon was strange for a demon. He seemed to take a liking to Hanekoma. Charon had discussions with him despite being an angel. Actually come to think of it his construct spoke to Charon over coffee sometimes. The angel felt something was off and searched his constructs memories. Strange. It seemed most of the conversations with Hanekoma and Charon were blurred.

Normally a construct had perfect recollection. But Weiss? This was no ordinary construct. It was a human body hand crafted by the Director. It was designed so well it fit in with humans... well... as much as you could expect from something without a soul. It was strange that this body could hold not just a portion, but ALL of the angels power. Something no other human body could do. Normally there'd be skin cracking from all the Soul power. An impressive body. It's a shame it wouldn't get any more use when he was done for the week.

The question now was what would Joshua would do. "So... Will Joshua save Hanekoma? Or perhaps you'd rather save yourself? It seems a choice between your duty, your friend and your life. If you do your duty and defend Shibuya from the onslaught then you'd be breaking many rules and you'd lose your life. If you save your friend you'd be breaking many rules and you'd lose your life. If you cling to life then you'd lose everything. The Composer is a coward. I know what he'll choose."

The angel smiled with certainty that Joshua would do nothing.

The Agent was going to make use of his final day.

XXXX

Noise were everywhere and anywhere. Nanami raced pasted the people blind to the chaos around them. Part of her wished the living people could see what was going on, then the other part of her remembered why they shouldn't. "There would be chaos if they could see all these Noise." It was fact. You couldn't see anything they were so thick. What's worse was the Taboo were on the move. It was obvious. Noise could be dealt with sure, but this endless amount? No amount of players could erase this many. What's worse is when you erased a little more appeared to replace the ones you erased.

Nanami let out a low tired exhale as she stopped to hide behind a corner. This was pointless. At the same time it wasn't pointless, these were taboo noise. Sho's specialty Noise could attack anyone: players, reapers and anything else that happened across their path. With luck, perhaps the angels would focus on the taboo noise. She thought about Weiss, "I know he's being controlled... the real Weiss... I know he's a human too. The angel may or may not admit it, but Weiss is starting to impact his judgment."

The angel in control couldn't handle himself yesterday. Nanami didn't know much about angels. But remorse? What angel feels remorse? Even if angels did feel remorse the Agent sure as hell wouldn't. Weiss was a body, yes. But it seemed the angel didn't count on their Souls merging. Or if he did he didn't expect Weiss to make him feel guilty about what he was doing. But what about anger? What if Weiss experienced things Nanami didn't know about. What if everything Weiss saw only added to the angel's rage. What was worse, the angel decided Shibuya's fate. He reported to the big bad angel called the Director. Apparently the Director didn't handle things himself. He let others decide things for him.

That seemed weak. Letting other people decide things for you. Then again, that might have been an act of mercy. From what it sounded the Director wanted to unleash his wrath upon Shibuya some time ago. Joshua and Hanekoma manage to talk him into another chance? Maybe he didn't leave such decisions to himself? Did he make Weiss just so an angel could look around a little? That seemed stupid.

Weiss and Neku had a lot in common actually. Well they seemed opposites in their own way. Neku was antisocial, where Weiss always was happy to hear other views. Neku could understand people, he just rejected it. He didn't get people because he didn't want to. Weiss wanted to, he just couldn't. That's probably what lead to a sociopath tendency. Weiss had his own style of psyches, but for the most part his combat and ability to use psyches was nearly identical to Neku's. It wasn't refined, but it was something to be reckoned with. The Director made Weiss, right? Maybe he modeled Weiss off of Neku? Or maybe a version of him?

Then again it was easier to say Joshua might be the closer of the two. Joshua might have had a similar past no doubt. Joshua had a personality and sense of play that quickly made you forget how evil he could be. There were times he watched on the sidelines. There were times he smiled like he was an old friend. Then there were other times he smiled like the devil. Both seemed to come naturally to him. Joshua seemed to distance himself. Weiss did too. But at the same time it was different with Weiss. Joshua distanced himself from people because he chose to. Weiss seemed to do his best to be friendly, but it was as if he was learning how to be friendly. Like he read how to be friends with someone in a book and ended up being too formal. If Nanami had to make a guess, Weiss wasn't really a good match for being either of them. The similarities he had between Neku and Joshua were staggering, but how much of that was on purpose? How much was by design?

Hanekoma came to mind next. Nanami always liked him, in fact. She had a feeling everybody liked him. Joshua seemed to think of him as a mentor sometimes. Neku had respect for him and even the angels seemed to like him. Hanekoma stood for something: Shibuya. If anybody else were Producer, the city would have been destroyed long ago. There was no telling how many threats he averted, even via illegal methods. In fact, there's no telling how long he stayed Joshua's hand. Hanekoma did something surprising every day. With how important he was. It felt dreadful he sacrificed himself to save Nanami. By pacting with her. Hanekoma was told he was to be erased within the weeks end. Not only that he effectively forced Joshua to behave for a day or two. Not only this, the angels went out of their way to let her live. That Agent could have killed her, but he couldn't. Was it because Weiss wouldn't let him hurt her? Was she really that important? She need not flatter herself.

She recalled Hanekoma's words. _I'm not the type to let an innocent die._ That's what he told her.

The voice echoed in her head and she huffed with annoyance. Innocent? No one was innocent, if anyone needed to die, it was the person who **couldn't** save everyone. Hanekoma was far more valuable than her. Why did he have to make a pact to save her?

_Why did you have to make a pact?_ Again she heard another voice echo in her head.

Her attention was lost to this voice now. "Am I talking to myself?..." She asked herself before a thought entered her mind. The thought was something else and she heard Hanekoma. "_Sometimes... you just got to stand for something. Even if no one notices, you should still stand for what you believe." _It was Hanekoma's voice alright. Then she wondered something. She almost heard that voice. Sure it was a thought. But it was almost as if the thought she heard in her head was a message.

He was talking to Charon. Could Hanekoma be sending messages to her? Why was he doing that? It wasn't too surprising that he might be able to do something like that, but...

"_I do have a favor to ask... if you can do it that is." _

"_I make no promises."_ That was Charon's voice! She was listening in to a conversation somehow. It was in her head, but she heard it loud and clear.

Nanami still was trying to figure out why she was hearing all of this. A favor? Who was he asking? Charon? That sounded like the other voice.

"Of course, he's pacted with me... it makes sense he can communicate somehow." She said these things aloud, lucky for her no one in the real ground could hear her. She was hearing voices in her head and she was glad no one was around to question her sanity.

_"There's very few favors that would be within my power to grant. Ask with care to this._" Charon's voice again.

Hanekoma on the other end sighed and Nanami heard the crackle of paper. It was crumpled as if Hanekoma were pulling a sheet of paper out. It sounded like he was drawing attention to the paper sounds like it was important. "_Please, give this to Joshua. Even if I'm dead, give this paper to Joshua. If you do we may be able to save more than Tokyo." _

The message was for her, not Charon. From what Nanami could tell, Charon wouldn't do such a thing. But she realized what she had to do. He needed HER to deliver whatever paper he had to Joshua. He was probably at his shop right now. She needed to grab it and deliver it to Joshua. Hanekoma was in trouble.

Charon spoke, "_That wasn't worth asking. The very idea that I'd betray the Agent is beyond me. You shouldn't have wasted your breath old friend. I'll hold back as best I can... Try to do your errand while you face the fallen. Die in peace, my friend."_

_Die? Die?! No! Not yet! He should have had time left! She checked her phone and then it made sense. It was the same time Joshua made a pact with her. Exactly the same time. There weren't any missions today so the day was over in the eyes of the angels. Hanekoma was their target now._

The sound cut off and Nanami started to run to the coffee shop before any further events transpired.

___She thought as hard as she could. It had to be somewhere obvious. Hanekoma was definitely at his shop. He was by his coffee machine. He could hear it doing it's little gizmo noises. __A piece of paper..._

The Ex-Producer was desperate. He couldn't make a call that wasn't monitored. He could ask verbally, but he hadn't the time to find her and tell her in a confidential manner. Hanekoma was short on time, luckily he completed the seal Joshua needed at the last minute. Nanami had to do what should could to help the dying man's last wish. She hoped he wouldn't die at the hands of Charon. She had no idea how strong Charon was, but perhaps with him holding back, Hanekoma might survive. She'd see soon enough.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Agent had an appointment to meet and there would need to be more than taboo noise in his way. The number of Noise surrounding him was impressive, but at the same time not surprising.

Any noise that might attack Hanekoma or Neku would meet swift death. The Agent was probably as strong as both of them together, or so he could brag. Angels weren't like humans. Angels used positive Soul power. Positive Soul power completely obliterated Noise. Noise were negative. Although of course there were exceptions to everything. The Agent had an unbelievable amount of positive energy and normally angels couldn't exist on this plane or for that matter this frequency. It was a rare treat for them to be able to personally erase Noise. Humans didn't have as much Soul power as angels. But humans were a special case. Humans were resilient to positive and negative forms of energy. So much so humans barely even noticed things of a spiritual nature.

Humans went widely ignored by demons and angels. It was only fair, humans ignored them all the time. Only the spiritually sensitive could even so much as notice them. The strange thing was the spiritually sensitive were the most vulnerable. Humans that didn't notice angels or demons had extraordinary resilience to positive and negative Soul. It was like a sort of armor. Attacks that could damage angels, demons or even Noise might not even phase a human. It took massive amounts of Soul to damage a living human. Even in death players kept some of that resilience. While humans might have that advantage alone, it didn't matter much in the spirit world. The most powerful angels or demons always outclassed even Composers. Actually Composers got their power from a combination of both the angels and the area they ruled. In Joshua's case he got power from Shibuya most of all because he resided there. The Composer can rule over large areas of course, but they need to be close to the highest source creativity and imagination to maximize their own power.

The Agent could call down pillars of light from the sky similar to the Composer. Different colored, but they were basically the same thing. The Agent had a more dense beam, but it wasn't quite as wide. Like Joshua, the Agent drew power from the Director. It wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that the Composer and the Agent both got their powers from the same place. By definition, the Composer was a divine role given to a human. Who inherited such a role? The first Composer was chosen by the angels. Whoever got it next was entirely up to the humans. A human who killed Composer became Composer. Then there was a Composer who might hand over his power to another human. But pretty much the only rule on being a Composer was you had to be strong enough to be Composer and generally you had to be clever enough to kill the last one. Joshua was clever.

It's funny, you spend most your life wondering if angels exist. Then the very moment you become Composer it seems like they run the whole world. Angel this and angel that. Honestly you'd probably get irritated with just how much things angels and demons were involved with. Humans were ignorant. This one a little less ignorant, but still ignorant. This angel was determined to make Joshua pay for the many crimes against humanity he committed. Not any human was particularly good, but Joshua had dire need of being punished. Despite the rest of the world seeming to forget everything Joshua did, this angel could not. He watched firsthand as Hanekoma had his wings removed. The lives Joshua toyed with. The prices he took and the souls he crushed. There was no way that this angel could forgive that. He'd see this city burn before Joshua became redeemed. His personal bias aside, Joshua really did many things that deserved severe punishment. The Director cut him some slack more than once. Actually Composers generally were allowed to break a large number of rules but this Agent had no intention of doing so. He wouldn't allow a thing.

The angel took careful steps toward Pork City. It towered over the city with an ominous aura. It's shadow alone was daunting, the angel stood in the shadow with a smile on his face. "Sho Minamimoto, you truly are a man worth commending. You doom all life with your actions and for this. You'll be rewarded. You may be more devious than your predecessor, but even you have constants. Your love of math and disregard of rules makes you an ideal candidate for Composer. After all... You'll be erased by the Director within the month. For as every Composer learns... there are things even they cannot cross. Although, I doubt you'll heed whatever warnings he gives you. You'll be perfect until another one is chosen. At the very least no one will be able to kill you quickly... no, I'll leave that to you. You're the only person capable of damning yourself."

The angel's monologue was getting old. Thanatos was had trouble following him, but either the angel didn't notice or didn't care. Thanatos was no threat to anyone, no more a threat than the Taboo Noise. Thanatos knew what the angel thought of him, he had demonstrated his feelings on Shibuya and everyone in it. "I know he's not Weiss... but still... Weiss is still in there." Why was he following the angel? It's not like he felt guilty or anything. It's not like he felt like he needed to make up for trying to murder his partner.

The player walked into the building a moment after the angel did. Taboo Noise stood away from from Thanatos, "Noise are cowards?" He scoffed then didn't question it. "Lucky me."

Bravery was a weird thing. The only difference between bravery and courage was one of them worked. Perhaps I'm the greater cowards or maybe bravery doesn't make a damn bit of difference. We'll see..."

It's funny he brought up cowards. The more he looked at his timer that said he was going to die in a very short amount of time the more he realized that he might be one. All this time he wanted to die. More than anything he wanted to die. The more he looked at his hand the less he wanted it. It almost scared him. No, he'd die. This is what was making him a coward. Fear kept him from his objective.

He entered the building without a second thought. Not the slightest hint of fear, for those who welcome death should never know fear. Death awaited him, his timer said so. When the time was up he'd choose death, but before that time, he wanted some answers. Sho Minamimoto had them.

XXXXXXXXXX

Uzuki and Kariya had been tossed aside. "I don't think I like this."

Neither of them did, they were half expecting being 'sacrificed with nobility' by a smirking Composer. Oddly enough, they were to entrust the protection of the city to Joshua. What could he do exactly? It's true he was Composer, but these days... that seemed to mean nothing. Never once could Kariya recall seeing the Composer fight. The Conductors of old always revered the Composer, but if they could be killed that said something about their power. Still, Sho failed so many years ago to kill Joshua. So it always left a hint of wonder in the minds of the Reapers. It made a lot of Reapers wonder. The Reapers didn't wonder a lot of things either.

Uzuki didn't wonder enough, "This blows. Just waiting around... in the middle of the street. Waiting for something... anything... to happen."

Kariya chuckled, "The Composer put us on standby, I think it's a pretty swell deal." In truth he didn't. He was worried of what Joshua was going to do against hundreds or even thousands of Taboo Noise. The odds were that the Composer was going to do something suicidal. How many Noise could he kill before the angels offed him? What happened to Kariya and Uzuki after that? What happened to everyone? Should they run?

Uzuki looked at her senpai with cruel disdain, "You're an idiot. Do you honestly not care what's going to happen to us now?"

Kariya caught the sight of two reapers getting ready to fight. Okami standing by a seal and an angry woman glaring at him with a look of death. "Not really, no. Let's take a look at what's going on over there." Before approaching Kariya looked at a lesser support reaper, "Get me some free reapers here on the double." He approached like a highschooler who was about to break up a fight.

Kotori wasn't happy with Okami at and from the looks of it all she was going to have to earn her price. She'd already gotten back a small fraction of it maybe. "Your allegiance belongs to the Composer are you not a Reaper?"

Okami let out a laugh which was matched with a low animal growl at the end of it, "A dog is loyal to a master, not a cause. I serve Sho Minamimoto. The Conductor holds my respect. Well what? Do you expect that pup of a Composer could sway me? Even the angels show their faces to me! The angels have locked eyes with me and won Minamimoto to their cause. They are the ones who own me. Any Reaper with half a brain would join them. This city is dying but it can be reborn. They have revealed Joshua's secret. The Composer will die soon and a new one will be chosen. That new Composer shall be the Conductor!"

Kotori shook her head and started to take her skates off. That was something she did before getting in a serious fight. Okami had never seen her fight. Not once. "Did your angels say to avoid me?... If you wanted to live, you should have avoided me."

Okami barked the words with fangs barred, "Bitch! Do you think yourself a match for me! I've surpassed your status! You are the Composer's bitch! Our pack is splitting and only the finest warriors have been recruited by the angels. Sho and myself of course. Charon has taught me to tamper with Noise. I can create perfect noise... a noise beyond even the taboo. The perfect noise cannot be controlled, even by reapers like you. They will command other Noise and make them stronger. I never seen you fight for real you always found ways not to fight... or turned your opponents against each other. Who's to say you can even join battle with me?"

Kariya thought about stopping this before it started, but he wondered who's side he was on. The angels could make some damn good allies. After all, they probably had a way of sparing reapers who joined their cause when the city was destroyed. Although there was the actual idea that the city could be saved. Could it? The angel he met wouldn't spare a thing. Kariya had lived in Shibuya a while, it was his home after all. Home was where the heart is, well if he had a heart.

Kariya sighed and told Uzuki, "Hey... what's your stance on all this?"

The pink haired woman seemed to be having her own dilemma. "I don't... what?" Was Kariya actually listening to dog boy?

Her head turned to face him as if she was too busy paying attention to what Okami and Kotori were saying. Apparently they were both debating which side reapers should take. Uzuki hated to admit it, but Okami had a point. Kariya and Uzuki weren't the only reapers there. Apparently Okami was the current spokesperson for the Agent and his angels. "The angels are the winning side. There's no way you can lose. Think of it! Even if you are erased, who is it who judges you? It is the angels. They are the ones who decide your meaning in life. Serve them and take this city by storm. Let the Noise destroy this place and when it is remade... and all cities are remade. We shall take rank as the rulers of this new city. I have been promised the rank of Conductor. I promise you all better than what there is now."

Kotori kept her eyes locked on Okami and wondered what the angels promised him to win him over. Would they keep their end of the deal? Did angels lie? What he said was true, but her price... it was too much to give up on. "I do not trust the angels. You'd be a fool to take them at their word... they have long since fallen to earth. I used to think that this day would never come. The day I could get my price back... this day has come. Okami, I won't let you take him away."

Her eyes turned a golden color as her skates left her feet and her white reaper wings appeared. Kariya ordered the other reapers to step back, he could have stopped the fight but, "This is an act of providence. Take a look guys, whoever wins this... I'm joining. Honestly I don't think the angels can be trusted... but neither can the Composer. He's an ass! Who can we trust? We're reapers. We don't burden ourselves with such things as loyalty. Let's see who cuts us the best deal and who proves they have more power."

What was Kariya doing? That didn't sound like something he'd say, but it sounded like he was scheming. Did he know who'd win?

Uzuki looked at him odd as if what he said was an act. She noticed. But the look in his face was serious enough to make her doubt he was acting. Kariya was indecisive and he thought outloud, "I suck at making decisions, I think we all do. Let's see who wins this and decide who to side with from there, eh?"

Okami howled a cry of victory, "Perfect logic! Let's see who's left standing! Me! Or this bitch? Come white winged reaper! Sing to the Noise! Howl at defeat. Step into the jaws of oblivion!"

The wolf raced forward with his noise seal activating and changing into a wolf. He got faster. Normally his shift wasn't that fast. He ran straight toward Kotori who looked far more angelic now then the actual angels. Her eyes were glowing and her costume changed to a fluttery white costume. Her reaper wings were white and her orange hair had a fiery aura about it that made it flicker ever so slightly.

"Come." Kotori didn't even look like a damned Reaper. What was this? Reaper's power was often shown by how many players they erased. Okami erased more! He knew he did!

She said as white noise started appearing to defend their master. Kotori had a special Noise too it seemed. White Noise. "White noise... take wing." She muttered behind a barrier of light. Talk was done it was time to deal with that traitor.

Okami was told not to fight Kotori. The Agent told him days earlier to avoid her. He couldn't resist. He had to finish her. He had to put this bitch in her place.

One thing to note that everyone generally considered Okami someone never to screw with. Consequently Kotori was widely considered the girl who could screw anyone and get away with it. They never liked each other, but there was always the question of who would win in a straight fight.

Come to think of it Uzuki had a confession, "I've never seen Kotori fight... Not for real anyway. This is the first time she's revealed her wings."

Kariya thought about it and shook his head, "No, I haven't either only the Conductor and Composer from what I hear. Judging by how quickly they promoted her... I'd say we're in for a hell of a show." Kariya had a smirk on his face that said flat out he knew who was going to win this fight. Uzuki knew he knew. Now how did he know what he knew? Who could know?

Kotori began by emitting a wide range scan which hit every noise in the nearby area. The scan had a look of white static and every noise symbol in the area turned white with hints of black. Honestly the whole thing looked like like an old tv on the wrong channel.

Okami and the other reapers were frozen in place when the scan hit them. It felt like it scrambled their insides. It didn't do any real damage. Luckily this was not an attack, this was a move made for gathering noise. "Don't worry, white noise don't attack. It's the other noise you need to pay attention to." Kotori said this in an echoing voice which fluttered away as she vanished after the scan.

Okami changed back to his human form. Whatever her scan did it changed him back to his human form.

Okami let out a growl and tried his best to track her location. "You cannot hide your scent from me, bitch. You're in another zone."

Kotori thought he deserved a compliment, "Indeed, a zone which is safe from you. But knowing where I am means little if you cannot get to it. If I had been battling anyone else, they might find me. But you? You are a fool Okami. You will not solve this puzzle."

Okami stayed in his wolf noise form, which if anyone could guess, was a formidable opponent. The wolf rushed to several noise attacking them with his fangs and claw. "These noise have to die I bet! Killing them should be an easy task!"

Kotori felt another compliment was due, "You're so clever Okami. However will I be able to defeat you?" The sarcasm polluted her compliment.

Okami didn't care he attacked white versions of bears. The bigger targets often fell prey to his attacks the best. They did not attack. The white noise took the attacks without so much as a counter or a flinch. Okami smirked behind his dog form. They don't even fight back, perfect! They know the stronger of the pack, so they merely accept their lower rank! These are true noise!" As he killed one the noise exploded into light damaging Okami. The light turned into a tiny glowing orb which floated into the sky. "I told you, the white noise don't fight back. Learn their tricks before you do anything rash."

Okami wasn't in the listening mood. He raced forward to attack another noise the other bear noise exploded in front of him and white light did damage to him. Again a white orb flew out of his reach. "Did you know? That the original concept of the grim reaper is biblical? It is described as death reaping the souls of humans. You see the bible compared living humans to the harvest. Some were thrown in the fire... some were kept because they yielded fruit. It is death that harvests the crop. Over time we gave the grim reaper a persona. A black robed man with a scythe for harvesting crops, but it looks as if that crop cutter became a weapon over time. Why is it then we are called reapers? Why is it we have wings?..."

Okami kept attacking different noise. He attacked a frog noise that healed with every hit. It never even took damage from Okami. He wasn't switching his attacks. "Cut your crap! Just die!"

Kotori was in the talking mood, which spelled trouble for Okami, "You see... from that metaphor there's a more solid truth to life. Death doesn't give second chances, why is it that we do? Reapers try to take life yet again? Did you know that the grim reaper was mentioned a second time?"

Okami was loosing power, but he was getting weaker the longer he fought. It's like the power he had wasn't returning. It was like trying to work out with very little air. He couldn't explain it. His health and energy were being drained by these motionless noise. Kotori went on, "In the era of when Pharaohs ruled over the Jewish people, the tenth plague of Egypt took the life of every firstborn son. The angel of death... or the grim reaper... came in to take their lives. Unless the blood of the lamb was placed upon the doors and windows the angel would have slaughtered them all. Anyone who was awake during that late hour met a most gruesome death. You see an angel that was the original reaper. That is why the strongest reapers have wings. We have wings like the angel of death."

Okami felt weaker now. Why was she telling him this? Why did this matter, "Shut your mouth... Stop talking."

Okami couldn't even call Noise. This scan scrambled him in all the wrong ways. He now slashed at a different noise. The minks took the damage but reflected half of the damage done to them back at him. Every scratch appeared on his body as well. "The strongest reapers are angels... They're no different than us. But I wonder... what is an angel?"

The other reapers in the area listened silently as they felt a sickening feeling how little a chance Okami stood against her. It wasn't that Kotori was unstoppable. It was that Okami was exactly the wrong person to fight her. He didn't stop and look. He didn't try to solve her Noise puzzle. There was an order to fighting her. If you killed Noise at random she'd never come out. For every white Noise that died the others gained power. New ones would appear to replace the old. Okami needed to heal, Okami needed to stop attacking. The Noise just sat there letting him attack. They weren't normal Noise and erasing them in a random order wasn't the answer.

"Angels... Do they even have wings? It goes without saying that their descriptions were given by men of old. They lacked the language needed to describe them properly. They tried their best to describe them, but to no avail. When men or women saw their true form, they fell on their face and began to pray for mercy. The angels would always say not to worship them, but who they serve. Doesn't that interest you? To think that an angel's true form is terrifying. Something that men and women fear? Something they have to hide from humans?"

Okami managed to kill the minks but he was hurt afterwards. He didn't get it. The minks weren't attacking him. Every time you kill the wrong Noise there was a punishment. A player might notice. Although just because you solve Kotori's puzzle didn't mean she'd be easy.

"This means nothing to me!"

Kotori let out a light giggle, "Oh but it does... after all... it's our history. The angels were described as having burning eyes and glowing swords. Some took the forms of beasts around the throne. They were described at times as living creatures. Some were said to have wings. Some were said to have six wings, the ones who flew around the throne. They used two wings for flying, two wings to cover their faces and two wings to cover their bodies. Doesn't that sound interesting? Doesn't that sound like something you yourself have seen. You see... if they dare look directly at who created them... they'd be destroyed. Imagine a being who cannot be observed at his full glory and power. That is a true deity don't you think? But we haven't seen this deity. How could we? He's not in our plane after all. But sure enough his servants are here... he's got angels... and he's got reapers... Reapers and angels are the same aren't they? One has a human master and one has a spiritual master. But we're all working for the some being aren't we? Indirectly perhaps. But even so. You speak of breaking the system that was already created. So how is it that you are on the side of the angels and I am not? You see I serve the angels because I serve the Composer. Who do you serve?"

Okami was now falling down, "Why?... What does this have to do with anything?... This has nothing to do with the battle. Why are you telling me this?"

The question seemed to echo throughout the other Reapers. As it didn't seem to make much sense why she was telling them this. "The answer is so very simple. Listen until it makes sense. The angels do not exist in the physical realm, they cannot be observed by science or physics. To some they're a fairy tale told from the bottom of human hearts. To some... they worship the idea of this deity that is said to be felt but not observed. Faith... it seems... is the only thing separating them."

Okami scoffed, "Religious trash... it means nothing."

Kotori appeared for the first time to the weakened Okami and blasted him with a white bolt. Apparently just by luck he hit one of the Noise he needed to hit. But by the time she appeared Okami wasn't ready. She surprised him with a volley of attacks and vanished. "To you perhaps, but there's some things in this religious trash you should take note of. Think a moment. If indeed we work for the Composer and the Composer works for this Director. Don't we work for the Director too? Why would the Director have his own forces fight themselves. He wouldn't approve this. You're being deceived. This Agent is a test. He is a punishment to the Composer, he said so didn't he? He lies. There won't be any Shibuya when they are done. He knows this. He makes promises of promotions and life, but he has no proven evidence he will do such a thing."

Okami growled. She couldn't be right! The Agent saw his talent! He was the one working for the Director not the Composer! The Composer had lost the Director's favor! He was going to die! There's no way that the Agent lied! He didn't want to believe that! "Shibuya will be reborn! It cannot be destroyed forever!"

It seemed even a dog could listen. "There's one more thing about the angels that I'm going to tell you... There is one more story. One last thing. Did you know that on special occasions angels took human form? There were two angels who went to Sodom and Gomorrah, a place now located at the bottom of the dead sea. The prophet Abraham asked the heavens not to destroy his home. He said it was worth being saved. So they challenged him with a test. He failed. The city was not spared. They warned a single family about the cities being destroyed. They told them to leave and not look back. One of them turned to go back. Some say look back, but the wording is closer to go back. Upon her going back she was instantly obliterated and turned to salt. Humans are acidic in nature... if a base strong enough were to hit humans... nothing would be left but salt and a good number of impurities. In short no human could be left alive. All life, not just humans. Died. There was nothing left. Now thousands of years later nothing is left. There is a city at the bottom of the dead sea. Nothing has lived there since, nothing will. Does this not sound familiar?"

Some of the Reapers listening understood. The angels weren't just going to destroy Shibuya. They were going to forever obliterate it. There wouldn't be anything left. There wouldn't even be an underground. All spiritual and living things would die. This was how they intended to destroy the Noise. The Noise were so ingrained in Shibuya that the only solution was to destroy everything. There wasn't going to be a rebuilding. This wasn't going to be a storm that would pass away. Any Reaper that was still sane felt terror at the idea. Nothing left. Nothing at all.

Kariya knew what she was saying. "She's saying that cities have been destroyed before..."

"The story is the same isn't it? A human begging for a wicked land to be spared? Two angels came down to observe? We have two angels here in this city now, don't we? One wants to destroy Shibuya and one wants to save it. The one who wants to save it doesn't have long. The Composer told me that our Producer will die this day. When that happens he fears the Director's wrath. Joshua while not perfect is begging the angels to spare Shibuya he is trying to prove that humans can fight back the Noise. It's what needs to be done. Regardless of chances of victory."

Okami got up slowly and raced toward her cutting at her several times. He was too angry to attack straight. Every Noise he destroyed damaged him or powered the other White Noise. He should have stopped, his strike was obvious.

She nimbly avoided all of the attacks. She watched carefully for an opening when he slacked off.

He yelled, "So what? So what if angels have destroyed cities in the past? We side with them! We side with them and we stand to gain what remains of the ashes!"

He took a kick to the chest where Kotori frowned at him, "I think the last time they did this... the remains are at the bottom of the dead sea you fool... They didn't just destroy the city... they destroyed the Underground. Nothing lives there... and nothing will. They called it sin. They called it corruption... we call it Noise. This has happened before!"

Kariya looked left and right, "They're not just going to destroy this place... they're going to destroy everything." Kotori lifted him up and looked at everyone, "You see my point now! THERE WON'T BE A SHIBUYA TO REBUILD!" She shouted at the end to drive the point home.

Okami and the other reapers got it. The angels had been working for a long time. The angels had been doing this forever. Whenever noise reached critical mass... they destroyed cities. There's no telling how often they had to do it. But it made sense. Whenever things got too bad in a location on earth, it was always destroyed. London was burned and plagued, Huns brought ruin to Rome, and more smaller natural disasters came to time. Nothing serious.

This was serious. This was on the same level as Sodom. This was going to be destruction so great that nothing could remain. There were so many Noise nothing could remain.

"We've got to fight to save it... if we run... we might as well give up. We're accepting this cycle if we keep going. The angels aren't immortal! They're just like us! They're living and capable of making mistakes too! When they become human... it's not a good sign... there's two living angels in our city... sounds familiar doesn't it? What the hell do think that means? It's happening once again. We stop it now or it will be destroyed."

She threw Okami on the ground as he stopped fighting. He looked at the ground with a shocked look on his face. Then finally a smile. "You're not a true reaper." His eyes glared at her.

Kotori was surprised by his response.

He got up. "Reapers... we seek destruction. Destruction of players... destruction of each other... destruction of those above us. Look among you! Sho! Kitaniji! Yodai! Myself! We were true reapers. Sho would see this world become garbage! Kitaniji would destroy society and make us all mindless drones! Yodai wanted everything to be devoured! I want everything to be torn apart. True reapers value destruction... I see clearly now! The Agent is no different from me! A former reaper perhaps... yes... that must be it... We both value destruction. I'LL SEE THIS CITY BURN!"

As he screamed those words a giant taboo noise landed in front of him. It let out a black flaming hiss and looked at the reapers around him. It forced Kotori back and it caused every Reaper to get defensive. It was Sho's strongest taboo noise, Zero.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Sho Minamimoto. Excellent work my friend. Your actions have led to the impending demise of the century." The former Conductor was still wearing his usual get-up instead of the suit he wore as uniform when he served Joshua.

"Friendship is garbage." The reaper stayed working on his junk heap. Which disguised the fact he was working on one final seal which would flood the whole city in taboo noise. He had no intention to be in Shibuya when it activated.

"Indeed it is, especially since it only leads to betrayal later. Did you know... neither of us can betray one another?"

Sho chuckled at that but stayed working on his seal, "If one doesn't make friends... then it's impossible to be betrayed. If you trust no one, then you're never surprised when they do something to turn against you. After all... that's how you see things, right?" The reaper kept working and then stood up, "What do you want, Agent?"

The angel smiled and looked across the city with a look of disgust. "I want this city to burn in fires it prepared. It supplied the fuel... the air is right for ignition. All that's needed is a spark. How bout it, Minamimoto... will you be my spark?"

The reaper placed a heavy metal scrap in the junk pile and somehow it stayed up. "I'll pass. You know nothing of math or art. Also... you know nothing of me. Any reaper can kill a player, but I'll kill everything. I don't need a damned Director to destroy everything. I'm good at that on my own."

The angel didn't seem to care, "It's fine. The spark is already in place. Whether you succeed or fail the Director will have to destroy everything. You're unleashing the Noise and you force him to do what must be done. I don't think my presence here will be required further. I'm leaving today... now as a matter of fact. But I was hoping you could do me one last favor."

The former Conductor didn't seem to be interested, "I need you to kill what's left behind... it should be an easy task for you. My remnant is much weaker than myself. He's nothing. If you truly want to kill everything... I think he'd be a good start."

Sho Minamimoto turned for the first time, "You want me to kill your brat? What positive numbers would that add?"

The angel started to glow a little, "I'm leaving this body behind, it could take a minute or two. As time goes on... the less control I'll have. I'd hop off a cliff... but I'd feel the pain of dying. I'd rather skip that. It was unpleasant enough the first time."

The Agent was the one who took over to kill Weiss? It made sense. Weiss wouldn't have killed himself and he didn't remember killing himself. Or maybe that's when he first entered Weiss. The Director was the only one who could allow an angel of his power into a body. So one way or another, either the Director or the Agent killed Weiss. Weiss lost control of himself and jumped off a building. Thus triggering the first week of the Reaper's game.

"Kill this body... or I'm afraid he might do something rash like mess up your work of art... in fact I guarantee that's what he'd do. Kill him and proceed with your plan."

Sho turned around to see the angel lightly glowing and he gave an annoyed glare, "So... you're leaving your own zero behind... You seek him factored?"

The Agent responded with a weak voice, "Indeed I do. I can't have this one running around without my control... but at the same time." There were lots of pauses as his body glowed. "I have someone to deal with in the angel plane... I can't stay here for much longer... so... I leave this... zero... for you to factor."

The angel groaned.

The former conductor didn't see the point, "Why should I? You should have calculated I had no interest in that zero."

The Agent grinned and said in a now distorted voice, "You won't have a choice when he wakes up. Kill him... or he'll try to stop you. Say bye to Joshua for me." The glowing silver eyes went away and were replaced with a gold color. They didn't glow, his Soul power diminished. His Soul was weak. He looked to be crying. After being a puppet for so long, all he could do exhale a whimper.

The body of Weiss lay motionless on the ground. It was pitiful. Weiss normally liked to smile. Or fake one. He wasn't smiling anymore. He realized what he was. Just some thing the angels made up. He wasn't real, he wasn't human and he'd done terrible things without his knowledge.

Weiss didn't want Shibuya to be destroyed. He didn't want to fight against Joshua. He didn't want to watch Noise destroy everything. So why did he have to do it? Why did it have to be him?

He let out a yell and huffed. He thought about getting up. He thought about fighting. But what was the point, he deserved to be erased. Controlled or not, HE did this. You can rationalize that he fought it. But it didn't matter. Maybe it was better he was erased now.

The former conductor took a few light steps and waited by what may well be a corpse. He could easily kill Weiss, but what kind of person kills a unconscious person? What sort of madman would kill a weeping boy? "Time to die, Radian!"

The reaper raised his foot to slam down on the skull of Weiss. For all his talk he needed Weiss to get out of the way. He was a loose end. Sho didn't like loose ends.

With a thundering clap the foot hit the ground and cracks were visible where his foot hit. Sho turned his head a moment. Weiss wasn't there anymore.

"You've been here for three minutes, yoctogram. Your stealth is garbage and your skill is in the negative. Players like you should recognize the power of infinity." Sho seemed to know he was there the entire time. Say what you want about Sho, he was hard to surprise.

His attention turned to Thanatos who was holding the unbelievably depressed Weiss.. "You're the Conductor. You're the one who made all those Taboo Noise. If you finish that seal you're going to create a middle point so all the seals will activate at once. The Noise will flood Shibuya and destroy everything. You did that did you?"

Sho seemed to like Thanatos, not enough to spare him, but enough to give him some wasteful breath. "Negative squared... I have indeed. So tell me me, factoid, what brought you to these coordinates? There is enough negative energy up here to make two hundred and eighty thousand, five hundred and six noise. That's enough to kill everything that moves in the underground. I'm 78% sure that they will. When the other seals activate there's going to be even more. I calculated as much. But then... an inverse matrix happens from time to time, like you... why are you here, radian?"

The player held Weiss over his shoulder and looked for ways to escape. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of escaping. The opponent wasn't exactly someone that Thanatos wanted to fight either. Sho Minamimoto was a genius, he was the Conductor. Out of all the reapers, he was the strongest. Thinking back, Thanatos was never afraid of reapers or dying, but this guy? Well he was the guardian of the Composer. He was someone anyone in their right mind was afraid of. Luckily Thanatos was never in his right mind. "I'm here because... Well I'm not too sure. I wanted to die. That's why I'm playing this game... but there's something that bothered me. I came here because I felt like there was something I had to do before I died."

As he spoke Weiss eyes opened lazily and his vision blurred as he could see Thanatos say one more thing. "Why is it that people like you make this world so damn complicated! It's people like you who screw everything around you... So... before I die... I think you deserve a little grief too. I'm not the only one who's been screwed by this game."

Weiss muttered under his breath, "Why did you come here?... Why?"

The blue haired player didn't look at him, he kept facing Sho Minamimoto, "Cuss... I've been used before. I've been screwed out of life. I kinda feel like you've been screwed too. Didn't want you to end up the same way. Honestly I don't know... Why did I come here?"

Thanatos made a light scoff at himself. Honestly he didn't have much to lose, but making enemies with Sho Minamimoto wasn't exactly a smart move.

"You sure you just won't let me take this guy and go?" The former conductor responded with a barrier. "I'm no servant of the Agent... but... I don't like things being taken from me. Steal from a store... you get jailed. Steal from me... you get erased. Your ass is meat."

Thanatos shrugged and put Weiss down. Who fumbled to his knees. By the gods he was even more depressed than Thanatos was. "Just let me die. Just leave me here... and let me die."

Thanatos felt his eyes turn fierce and he turned his attention to Weiss. He kicked Weiss right in the side of the face. "Pathetic! You're pathetic! Even if you want to die, you get up! You always stand up! Everyone dies! Die standing! And you don't have the right to want to kill yourself. I lost all my reasons for living! But you haven't! You still have things you need to do! And don't you dare think of dying before you do them!"

Weiss blinked. It wasn't just what was said, but who was saying it. "Thanatos?"

Thanatos looked down and told Weiss, "Get up."

Weiss started to get up, he realized that whether he was real or not. Alive or not. Maybe he was a puppet, but right now he had no strings. This puppet didn't want everyone to die. They needed to stop Sho Minamimoto. The Conductor was going to kill everyone. He was going to make Shibuya garbage. Weiss wasn't sure about a lot of, but he was sure that he didn't want everything destroyed.

There was a time when Weiss would have laughed a player's death. He wouldn't do that now. What changed him? Was it his pact with Nanami? Did part of her soul rub off on his? Did he just change due to his experiences? Did it matter?

Memories flooded his mind once again. He saw the Pork City tower. He saw Joshua and he saw Neku standing exactly where he and Thanatos stood now. Joshua and Neku had a very different experience. Neku got a memory back. The memory of Sho Minamimoto holding a gun. Joshua smiling and sending him away. Neku felt pain and so did Weiss. Weiss remembered as if he were there. As if he were watching intensely. He couldn't feel just Neku, he could feel Joshua and even Sho. Neku said, _It was you... You killed me!_

That same anger filled up Weiss. It didn't matter why. Every now and then Weiss would see things that could trigger memories. But why? Were they meant to teach him something? Meant to help him? Hanekoma? No, Hanekoma wasn't that powerful? The angel? No, the angel had no reason to help him. Then who? Could it have been Joshua himself? Could it have been someone else? Could this someone have helped him more?

Weiss got up fully. He felt his Soul power build up a little bit. His eyes looked at Sho Minamimoto. The bastard seemed to be pleased that they got up. He pretty much wanted them to be willing to fight back. It would make things sweeter. Sho looked at the seal behind him. It would take time for it to activate. Someone with enough know how to screw it up. He didn't need that. He needed to put an end to this. But at the same time he wanted to enjoy himself. After all, what was the point of a game without a little bit of fun. The risks were perfect the stakes were high. It was worth the thrill.

Sho kept both hands in his pockets as he waited for those two to let their guards down. Even the slightest turn could be fatal for them. Sho was on the top five people on earth not to F&#k with. With taboo noise and relentless hunger for power, Sho could very well turn the two players before him into meat. It was a threat he could hold. In fact, that's what he was thinking about doing. "We need to break that seal behind him. If we break it... we should be able to stop this city from being destroyed."

Thanatos smiled at him, "You want to save this city now? Does that mean we're good guys now?"

Weiss looked at him almost unsure of what he was saying, "I don't know that, but what I do know... Not everyone here deserves to die. I don't want this place to be destroyed."

Sho told them both flat out, "I do. I'll see it crushed into little bits. So, are you both going to do nothing? Or am I going to factor you radians until there's nothing left?"

Thanatos made a joke, "I'm not the type to start fights. Never was the feisty type. I always wanted to live a long fruitful life."

Weiss shook his head, "Don't make sarcastic jokes."

Thanatos continued, "Nah, that's your job. Lighten up. It's a good day to die!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Hanekoma got his warning to Nanami. He left a number of papers by the cash register. Hopefully the message he sent to Nanami wouldn't fall on deaf ears. Hopefully Nanami could find it in time. She was a smart girl, she could handle it.

For now Hanekoma had a much bigger problem. Charon was here and his time was up. Charon gave him a warning, it was custom to give warnings before erasure of angels. "If run, I will hunt you down. If you come with me, I will ensure minimal damage to your Soul power. You will go to the angel plane unharmed. If you should choose to flee, I will erase you here. The damage to your Soul will be significant. You may not be able to return to the human world again."

Hanekoma pointed out, "I won't be back here again either way. I've one last thing to do."

Charon sighed and changed his glasses. "What you are about to do, do so quickly. I'll hold back. I will leave your erasure to the Fallen."

Hanekoma smiled thankfully, "That's very kind of you."

It was a kindness. Charon at full power was far worse than the Fallen Noise. His demon form dealt permanent damage to angels and humans alike. He drew power from the Hellplane. The realm of demons and Noise. It was strange. In the higher planes Noise were feared. In the lower planes, Noise feared demons.

XXXXXXXXXX

Joshua stood silent looking towards the sky. He had an opening. Charon was busy and the Agent was gone. Joshua exhaled a breath and took a look at his city from the top of a very large building. "It's time."

Joshua felt Shibuya's power flow into him. It wouldn't be long. But it would be long enough. In what time he had he intended to destroy every last one of the Taboo Noise. They flowed out of this city like a plague of locusts. But Joshua didn't care. He almost smiled as they came toward him. His eyes glowed and then his body glowed. "I am Yoshiya Kiryu. Composer of Shibuya and your end."

Beams of light fell from the sky and the first of many Taboo met their end. Joshua needed to break all the seals. This was his opening and he intended to use it fully.

_Give me all your love_

watch?v=7_3QckQU3nw

Hanekoma left the building by jumping through the window. And before you say that was unnecessary, a giant fallen noise wasn't far behind him. It gnashed and bit trying to catch the ex-producer and as said before it wasn't far behind him. Hanekoma ran for it at amazing speed, impossible even for players. He'd teleport slightly to the left or right before the great serpent noise behind him hit him. It was one of Charon's 12 fallen noise. One for each animal of the zodiac. "Bring humanity to sin, serpent."

Hanekoma transformed into the cat noise which he chose when he was ready for battle. This was one of the few times where he'd need to use his full power. Even Neku wasn't a match for Hanekoma normally, but against Charon, Hanekoma didn't stand a chance. The Fallen noise were Charon's first means of erasure. If the target proved to be more of a threat Charon could use more of his power. In this case, Charon was allowed to attack the target personally, but was not allowed to release his wings. Only in battling the Composer could Charon release his wings or at least having special permissions. Releasing his wings was more or less only used as a last means.

Charon stepped out as a barrier blocked Hanekoma's path. His glasses were a red color now. He normally wore black shades. The red ones must have been his kill shades. Slowly the demon walked toward Hanekoma. If Charon reached Hanekoma it'd be over. The demon may not have been able to use his wings but Hanekoma knew who he needed to stay away from. He was right, Charon intended to show him why in due time. Hanekoma grabbed the snakes head and stopped both of its fangs from biting down on him. He was struggling to keep the jaws of the noise open. "Fallen noise are the domain of demons... I am the only demon known who controls two of them at once."

Hanekoma's voice was distorted as he responded, "Heheheh, Shibuya is full of talent. We've got the best and brightest, it makes sense they'd send you to keep us in line."

Charon didn't smile as he raised his hand, "Rise from the pits of sacrifice, ram." From nowhere a giant ram noise rushed toward Hanekoma and smashed him through the barrier behind him. "The ram's charge can break through most barriers. A worthy trick to surprise enemies."

It surprised Hanekoma. But surprises only worked once.

Hanekoma got up and avoided another charge and dodged another snake bite. "There's two sides to the human mind. The animus and anima... you'll see both." The tigress Noise form took flight and made copies of itself. Little illusions of itself. Enough to confuse the snake and the ram into charging different spots. Hanekoma let loose a few devastating punches at the snake finally flinging it at the charging ram. The ram charged right into the snake. Multiple copies of Hanekoma's tigress zipped by the ram noise. Each attack sacrificing one of the copies to explode into energy and damage the Fallen Noise. Hanekoma got an idea. He turned and started tampering with the barrier.

Barriers were like firewalls. There were ways through, but only to those with proper equipment and knowledge. Hanekoma had the means and ability to crack through barriers. Producers could do all kinds of things. One of the things that came in handy were making synthetic keys. He'd done it before with Nanami. But doing it with these barriers were much harder.

"You intend to create a synthetic key to my wall... it'd take ordinary producers two hours to create a key to my barrier.."

Hanekoma made a key in seconds. He stood there while the two noise barely got up and started their assault against his anima. The tigress was not something that could be easily hit, especially not in 18 seconds. The door opened and the tigress vanished.

"Always lock a door behind you." Hanekoma said as both noise slammed into the barrier painfully while he stood on the other side.

Charon made a motion and his Ram charged his way through the barrier. Hanekoma unleashed a powerful jab at the Ram. The breaking of the barrier slowed it down enough to get a clean solid combo on it. It didn't seem to take it that well.

Hanekoma turned to run for his life as another barrier stopped him in his tracks. Charon worked fast. He was trying his best to get to Joshua and perhaps get some backup.

"Devour your prey, lion. Eat all that remains, rat." Out of the ground hundreds of little rats attacked. Hanekoma couldn't even find a good place to stand. All of the rats made it impossible to stand anywhere. The little ones bit him and slowed him down. Then before he could get backup from his anima, he saw a lion giving his other half trouble. The lion zipped between the copies killing one copy after another with instant precision. Hanekoma worked on the door as he charged up energy around him. "The world ends at your horizons." A pulse of energy blew the rats back and he let out bursts of energy every so often to keep the stragglers at bay. He looked at his anima and knew what he had to do, "Switch." Instantly they both teleported to stood where the other was previously standing. Clones appeared and rushed into the rats each clone not exploding but leaving a blue energy trail. The energy killed the rats little by little. The lion was far more formidable. It gave Hanekoma a few good slashes before Hanekoma managed to grab the neck of the beast and slam it into the ground. Hanekoma could have done more damage, but the point was to escape not fight. The longer he fought the Noise the closer Charon got. He walked slowly, but he was getting there. The moment Charon reached Hanekoma it'd be over. Charon was getting closer. He walked through barriers as if they weren't there. Both hands in his suit jacket pockets.

Hanekoma broke the next barrier. He didn't have long. He had to move. He had to hold Charon as long as he could.

"Take the horsemen to earth, horse." "Guard the gates to hell, dog." A vicious three headed dog appeared bit at Hanekoma faster than anything before. Both arms were bitten and before it bit his head he gave the dog a kick before the teeth reached his neck. As the dog went midair a horse ran by him with a trail of fire. It circled around him. The flames were too tall to jump over without making himself helpless in the air. He traded places with his anima. As the horse kept running he gave it a kick in the direction of the dog. When he kicked it a flame wall hit his leg and he had to guess every single one of these noise was nasty if you allowed it to fight you the whole way through. Each one could be a massive threat to officer class Reapers. Charon summoned them two at a time and that was if you were lucky enough to fight the Noise.

The dog attacked the copies and actually managed to bite faster than the anima could make copies of itself. But luckily each bite caused explosions. The explosions stunned the mad dog. It bit the anima due to blind luck and Hanekoma switched places with it delivering a punch to each head followed by another kick to the body. Individually, Hanekoma was stronger than any two of these Noise, but even so... all of them were a problem. After one was erased another would take its place. He couldn't take to time to erase them all. He had to keep reminding himself to keep moving. He needed to lock them up or get away from them. He went to the barrier and the horse ran by it setting off a black flame with red smoke. Fire blocking his path? "Hahahaha! Live for the moment!"

Hanekoma reached his hand into the fire and decoded the wall until finally it was cracked. His arm was badly burned, but it was worth it. He was getting faster at breaking the walls. With a jump he managed to suffer only minor burns, but his arms were weak now. Particularly the one he pretty much sacrificed. His anima teleported in and he locked out the noise. He was going through the noise fairly quickly. But they were damaging him just as fast. He needed more time.

"Watch mankind return to instinct, monkey." "Let mankind cast aside their gold and worship idols, calf." They both appeared in front of the barrier that came next. Charon was using the noise as if they were nothing and indeed they were. To Charon they were a pointless tool, something to appease the angels from using his Soul scaring strikes. Charon's never met someone he could fight on even footing. He'd never seen anyone to match him in his combat ability. Perhaps that's why the angels were quick to recruit him. In exchange for his obedience, he need not go to the demon plane. The two Noise looked past Hanekoma. The monkey sat on a stump of wood. The calf looked more like a bull with two long horns. The bull was made of stone and the monkey was sitting in the same thinking position. The monkey made no movement as a jungle of trees sprang up out of the ground. His element was wood and it used lots and lots of wood. From every tree vines, thorns and an array of wooden spikes tried to impale or hold him. The trees were thickest around the barrier. The noise were smart enough to block the barrier, but no matter. Hanekoma raced by the trees that came out of the ground as fast as he could step. Before long he was on top of the trees, but they just kept growing.

His anima was busy making prey of the calf. It attacked with clones each rushing by, but each turned to stone the moment it touched the calf. With every step the plants and trees turned to stone. With every exhale rubble and small pebbles came out. The calf let loose a breath which fired like a bolt. Upon hitting a clone it exploded into shattering rocks each of those hit another clone. Each one that missed turned trees to stone. The calf turned it's attention to the barrier and let out a breath in that direction. The trees blocking the barrier turned to stone. Hanekoma didn't like the look of this. He punched his way through the rocks. Each tree that was broken exploded into smaller shards of rock some of which hit him. He managed a finger to touch the barrier. At the slightest touch he started hacking through it. The trees started growing through his arm as he made his way through. Eventually the pain became too much, he had to pull his arm back. So he did, but not after the barrier was down. When it was done he reminded the noise, "Expand your world." He let loose a powerful blast that shattered the stone trees in his way and he went through and locked the door behind him.

Charon had four noise left, "Desecrate the pure, boar." "Multiply and devour, rabbit." Hanekoma had almost made it. But his arms were very weak now, he'd have to end this quickly. A boar approached as his opponent, and by approached I mean charged with a streak of lightning behind it. Upon hitting the Hanekoma, lightning struck down on him. He was getting slower. The lightning scrambled his nerves and made it feel like everything in his body was in the wrong place. An effective tactic for slowing and debilitating. If the boar had been the first noise he could have dodged it, not now.

What was worse was the rabbit was keeping his anima occupied in full. It made copies of itself and rushed by similar to his anima. It had the exact same power. The rabbit multiplied and sent Kamikaze illusions which exploded and clashed against the anima's copies. The only difference is it could multiply even faster, but all of the rabbits were suicidal. Each rabbit that hit a clone exploded. The rabbit soon had plenty of spare clones to attack the anima alone. The anima teleported from place to place only to be hit by a stray explosion. The boar was hitting Hanekoma with charge after charge until he finally reached over and touched the barrier.

"As weak as you are... do you hope to unlock the barrier quickly? Know your strength and... know theirs. You cannot defeat the Fallen, Hanekoma. You are strong, but you have lost your wings."

Hanekoma used to be stronger. He used to have access to more power. Not anymore. His punishment was his wings were ripped off. Angels showed off wings like a source of power. It was a symbol of status and it was where a massive amount of power was stored for later use. Hanekoma lost his rank, his power and today he'd lose his life. Even so, it was fair. He'd do his part.

The boar attacked again. Hanekoma despite his nerves being scrambled managed to ram against it. The boar went flying and Hanekoma went flying against the wall. Just what he needed. He bought himself a few more seconds. He dodged a few charges while touching the wall.

The Noise attacked again and again, but Hanekoma kept his defenses up as best he could. His anima focused and started using her clones sparingly. He mustered up a pulse or blast to slow the boar down until finally the barrier broke. "Even in your moment of weakness... you cling to life. I admire your courage."

Hanekoma broke through. Then he ran. He felt like he ran for a long time before yet another barrier blocked his path. Charon was speeding up his walk.

"Show the world your vanity, peacock." "Devour the woman's child, dragon." This was the last two. He was almost where he needed to be. But too little too late. He wasn't gaining any distance on Charon. What was worse, "This is the end for you... the angels have permitted me to fight you myself this next barrier. It seems the fallen noise are not doing the job fast enough. In a way this is good, I'll make sure... you will not suffer in death. I will wait until you pass this next barrier... I'm sure you will."

XXXXXXXXXX

Zero was strong. Stronger than any noise that any reaper had faced. It made sense though that he'd be strong. He was created by combining an immense infusion of taboo energy and Noise.

"How are we supposed to kill this thing?!" Uzuki let out a shout which made it apparent she was the local pissed off reaper of the group. She launched a barrage of bolts which the dragon didn't bother avoiding. Every attack that hit it seemed to make taboo noise. "I am not dying to taboo noise... I almost died to them once already! I had to be saved! And by players of all people."

Kariya talked as he avoided gray fireballs. "I actually wouldn't mind some players helping me out to be honest."

The reaper attacked a number of small noise and battered them with a number of small hits before the light puck, "Good girl... keep passing the puck... taboo hate light pucks."

Often it was passed between players, but Kariya and Uzuki could pass a puck which they could use to double their damage based on whoever had it. It was a gradually building energy that was shared between partners. The puck was simply a reference to that energy. Sometimes it resulted in fusion moves. In the case of taboo noise, the damage was times 4.

"Hey Kotori... You deal with Okami?"

The wings were gone and she had her roller skates back on, "He ran off, but he won't likely make it.. I'll help you deal with the Conductor's mess."

Her attacks were far more simple, all she did now was similar to Kariya and Uzuki. She healed a number of weaker reapers who fought Taboo noise with their fists and energy blasts. The whole place looked like a warzone. Which as far as Kotori could tell, was exactly what Sho wanted. The city was to be torn apart if the Noise weren't dealt with soon enough. Uzuki blasted Zero with an attack that let out a big explosion and then launched much smaller dartlike bolts. The big blast made it bleed little noise and the little blasts hurt the smaller noise. Kariya twirled around it as it sprayed flame breath. He was careful to jump and make the flames hit everything except reapers.

Much to his chagrin, he noted that the flames didn't hurt the other taboo noise. "Of course it doesn't hurt his friends, why did I expect any different." He said as he launched another big blast at the giant monster. Zero was not going down easily. It seemed that all Zero was doing was distracting the other reapers from getting any real work done. Kotori just kept flinging healing psyches around and heel dropping any noise that come by. Which given the roller skates were made of metal had to hurt at least a little bit.

It wasn't long before they figured something out, "This thing isn't terribly dangerous when we have a lot of reapers helping out... but... we're losing reapers." A support reaper said this casting heals and buffs on nearby battle class reapers. The ones with wings were the give away battle reapers. They sent bolts flying at little reapers.

"We've got this! There's no way we can lose!" One said as he jinxed the moment.

Everyone looked at him and in unison said, "You... idiot... now something is going to happen to totally turn the tide and make us struggle."

"Or worse kill us." As fate would have it trouble started brewing the moment the words were said. It started turning the tide. The dragon was charging up a big attack this entire time, one big enough to shatter the barriers and buffs the reapers had. It was charging up an attack. Most of it's breath attacks did no damage to the lesser Taboo Noise. This one probably was intended to wipe everyone out in one shot. But it seemed a small price to pay in exchange for dealing some real damage to the Reapers.

"Negative flare."

The monster said in a voice not its own. The monster flew up into the air and launched a gray blast of energy which sent a shockwave large enough to kill every noise in the area. Most Reapers braced themselves.

"This isn't good... Heal them quickly!" Kariya said as he gathered what defenses he could.

It wasn't an explosion that went off. It was raw negative energy. It flowed through the Reapers and the barriers they made. Kariya couldn't move.

Uzuki couldn't move.

Nobody could move. They were doomed. The attack didn't kill them, but the Noise could.

"The blows." This was going to be one of those days, namely a Thursday.

XXXXXXXXXX

Thanatos hated opponents who were stronger than him in every way. Sho was stronger, faster and smarter than him or Weiss. The only good news was this was a two vs. one fight. This of course didn't make a lick of difference when Sho summoned up Taboo noise. Weiss turned his attention to the Taboo noise and sent a single plasma bolt. Sho took the opportunity to clock him square under the jaw. The moment Thanatos turned his attention to Weiss Sho appeared and kicked Thanatos in the face. He didn't even use his Noise form and he was already kicking the crap out of them.

"So zetta slow..." He groaned as he hated fights that could be won so easily. He appeared around them in multiple places and gave each of them a punch and a kick. Moving that fast usually meant there was no control. The faster you moved the harder it was to aim and throw a punch. Sho was aiming pretty damn good for someone who seemed to break the sound barrier. How fast was he really going? No way to be sure. But he was too fast to see properly.

"Get some distance!" Thanatos said jumping back and Weiss did the same. Both kicked the ground and sent themselves flying back in different directions. Sho smirked. Both of their feet were grabbed. Sho stopped just long enough to give a playful smile.

They swung in the opposite direction of where they were promptly slammed into the ground. Sho still held on to their legs, "You should know... I'm stronger than when Neku and the Composer fought me. I've mastered the Taboo. I've mastered my powers as a reaper. I've calculated your chances of victory your chances are exactly the same as someone coming to your rescue. Not even a decimal."

Sho had Shibuya by the balls. The Composer couldn't do a thing, the angel was gone and that made him the most dangerous thing in the city.

Upon hearing this Weiss pulled out one of the pins that the Agent left in his pocket. It was a gold pin with a sword. He used a shockwave psych that had more power than anything he'd ever seen. "Sword of Heaven?" He looked at the psych and kept attacking at Sho doing damage for the first time. Thanatos took this opportunity to get up and summon his Noise. The noise came crashing down on the other noise and launch fireballs at the former-conductor.

"You got any more of those?"

The pins in Weiss pocket rivaled that of the darklit planets it seemed. Both were made by Cat. He didn't have a complete set, but it was good enough. "Road to Zenith?... Sounds good." Weiss started zooming around the area. It was an impressive dash pin which he used to rush into Sho and slash him more with his shockwave. They were impressive variants on the attacks he used before. More noise greeted him and he greeted them with another pin. "Finger of God." (For those of you who aren't familiar with tornado terminology, that's one of the many nicknames for a tornado.) A tornado filled the whole area and spun the noise around. Finally they slammed on the ground. After they slammed in the ground they were stunned for a split second which made it easy to come up to them and cut them with more shockwaves. Especially since that dash pin made it easy to get them.

"It seems the angel left pins behind for you? He wanted you to factor me? He can't do math then."

Wait... Weiss had pins left behind by the angel? He didn't question it much, but they were definitely left in his pocket. Why would an angel leave him pins? Especially after asking Sho to erase him before he woke up. This didn't make sense. The angel was in control right? Who else could have left him pins? He couldn't name anyone. No one. How and when did he get them? There didn't seem to be anything blocking his memory. With the angel gone there shouldn't have been anyone else screwing with him.

This wasn't the work of the angel, was it?

Sho didn't seem to think much of it. "You're wondering if the angel left you those pins? You think he was clever? Nah, he's just a moron. That angel had an IQ in the decimal places. It's something he overlooked." Sho exaggerated as always, but he didn't exaggerate when he said this, "You'll need a lot more power to math me off... Just because you sons of digits can kill Taboo Noise that puts you on the same side of a fraction as my misguided underlings. Zero will deal with them soon enough. I'll show my work, I'll guarantee it."

Weiss realized what he had to do. He motioned to Thanatos to get ready.

The pin worked rather simple. The more power you put in it the bigger and wider the tornado got. The moment you released the pin the tornado would disperse and deal damage according to how big it was. It was perfect for pulling a ton of Noise together. More importantly the strong wind was useful for another purpose. It kept Sho from running at max speed. Sho rushed towards the players but the tornado pulled back against him. He realized what was going on, then changed his strategy.

That alone served its purpose. Itgave Thanatos enough time to launch fireballs via his dragon Noise. Sho easily dodged those then Weiss came to hit him with a shockwave combo. Sho turned his body in such a way where he avoided most of both, flipping sideways midair. They grazed him a few times, not bad for yoctograms. When he came to a full land he kept focus on Weiss and the dragon. That's when a hand grabbed his throat from behind him. Thanatos had a hand that stunned. Sho was hard to surprise, but not impossible.

"Try dodging now asshole." Blue energy went through Sho. But not long. Sho elbowed and made an awkward kick to free himself.

A tornado went off right where Thanatos stood. He was in the center so the tornado didn't bother him much. He and Thanatos were inside the tornado. If he jumped out that'd mean trouble. So he smiled and went for Thanatos. Thanatos got to the edge of the tornado, his back to it. Sho couldn't sneak up behind him with those razor winds at his back.

Sho didn't need to surprise him right now. He put some energy in his hand and intended to send Thanatos flying. He raced to him, but then flames shot out of the sky. Fire from a dragon. It was enough fire to distort sight. The blue energy that hit him before started taking effect he felt stunned. That's when Thanatos grabbed Sho. He grabbed Sho, stunned him again for good measure then forcibly held the Conductor in the sharp winds. Little bits of debris became projectiles. The junk he had laying around worked as weapons. Sho got stunned again, but wasn't taking much damage. It hurt, but it did little more than stun him. But he held Sho out on the edge of the tornado. The dragon proceeded to breath fire into it while Weiss fired plasma bolts in the tornado full of fire. That made it significantly more dangerous. If they could keep this up they'd win.

Inside the tornado was a yell, not of pain, but of transformation. The hand that grabbed Sho's neck now barely held the front of it. Another hand reached out of the tornado. It was the hand of Sho's noise form. It threw Thanatos midair and into the tornado as it dispersed. "Any storm can do some can throw some rocks, I'll throw the world."

Sho had become Leo Cantus. His Noise form had no equal now.

The monster gained impossible speed. He was now faster than Weiss when he was using the dash pin. He was stronger than Thanatos' dragon. What was worse, he still had taboo noise ready to give trouble. "Zetta slow."

He caught up with Weiss the moment his dash pin ran out of speed and he threw Weiss right at Thanatos. Two birds with one bird? Who needs stones?

Thanatos responded by created a field of energy which stopped Weiss from hitting him. "Get the Noise!" They were in for a beating.

Thanatos yelled at his blue dragon. Weiss checked his fourth pin which he had no idea what it'd do. "Eternal blessing?... What do you suppose it does?"

Thanatos tossed Weiss in the direction of the taboo noise. Not gently either. "Use the middle finger of God you jackass! And then find out!" The tornado worked as a shield sometimes, because it was difficult to pass, even for Sho.

He only had a little juice left in that pin before it needed to recharge. Hopefully it recharged fast.

He encased the noise inside a wind prison. "Middle finger?... Ass..." He cut the noise with his shockwave one after another and after they all died. The energy between him and Thanatos seemed to give him an edge against the Taboo. "They're weak against whoever has the puck." That also meant they were weak against fusion moves.

Leo Cantus came rushing in the tornado and punched him in the chest. A pulse of energy as there was silence and it shot Weiss into a garbage heap. Sho didn't stop there he ran straight for Thanatos, "Die! Radian!"

Thanatos let loose his stunning hand which Sho easily avoided by dropping to the floor and causing his legs to fall down before swiping his foot. "Like a damn cat!" Thanatos pushed himself back as Sho ran toward him to do the same to him that happened to Weiss. Cats were limber, so was Sho. Then something happened. Sho changed back to his human form. Not good. He did an impressive flip to get up. Then kept going for Thanatos. He was still faster than they were by a longshot.

A giant dragon noise stomped right on Sho before he reached Thanatos. "Maybe if you were in that lion form, you'd have hit me."

Sho looked up with slit eyes like an animal, "I'd have killed you, hectopascal."

Thanatos grabbed the head of Sho and let loose stunning energy as the dragon bit his body, "Gotcha you son of a bitch!"

The dragon let out a flame breath as Sho didn't even flinch. It's as if he felt no pain, "So zetta weak... This attack's power is in the decimals."

He let loose a roar of energy as he changed back into Leo cantus, his lion form. "Oh shi-"

Before he could finish he was being kicked midair and thrashed around like a ragdoll midair. The words kept repeating. "Zetta slow. Zetta slow! So Zetta slow!" Indeed he was, his dragon barely had time to start flying up to his rescue before Sho turned his attention to the noise beast. "SO ZETTA SLOW!" He kicked off Thanatos to go toward the dragon who's mouth was open and ready to fire. Sho grinned until his power felt sapped. He looked to see Weiss back up and his taboo noise dead yet again.

Weiss was attacking his Taboo Noise again? He just got his ass beaten to submission. There's no way he should have been able to move quickly. Unless... he healed?

"What the factor?..." He was human sized and landed into the dragons mouth where he was spit out in a most visual display of fireworks.

"Mega flare!" Thanatos cried as the dragon shot him into his junk heap which came to a towering crash.

Weiss found out what his other pin did, "It's a healing pin. It's a one use, reboot pin. It'll recharge, but while it's recharging it gives you smaller heals until it's back in use again. Constant healing... pretty cool huh? Although it doesn't heal as much as normal pins upfront."

It didn't matter if they won or not. They did it. The mega flare trashed the trash seal. Sho was going to have to put it back together

None of that mattered at the moment. Sho was still standing and worse... smiling. "Do you think I'm through? This isn't over not by a google. No, I'll repair the seal. I'll repair it and take you both far away from here. I'll kill you both for desecrating my perfectly calculated seal... and I'll make sure you die... zetta slow."

Thanatos confessed, "Honestly I'd rather you hurry up and kill us. My spot in hell is getting cold."

Weiss rolled his eyes, "Are you even taking this seriously?"

Thanatos chuckled, "No. Why the hell should I? I'm dying today anyway. So is your angel buddy. Although with the kinds of angels in heaven... makes me wonder if they'd let me in... Yup... I've a better chance than an angel of getting into heaven. Weird right?"

Weiss laughed, "I don't know how it works."

Sho's skin started to turn dark. Half of his face got a Noise Tattoo. It was a stylish black half lion Tattoo. Parts of his body started shifting. Weiss and Thanatos stopped laughing. This guy wasn't changing into a Noise? What was he doing?

His legs changed into their Noise form but not the rest of his body. When he got close his arms turned to Noise instead of his legs.

"This shithole can change part of his body to Leo Cantus!" Thanatos said trying to block and failing.

Weiss got grabbed with an extra long arm. Sho's voice was distorted and maniacal. "You'll die... zetta slow."

This wasn't good.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hanekoma was having quite a bit of difficulty with these last noise. The peacock had an ability which caused everything to be freeze in place. It would open it's tail and the light reflecting off of the peacocks tail froze everything inside a thin layer of metal. The bird was made of metal and it cut several clones with its tail. It also flung metal feathers that were nothing short of blades. The anima couldn't hold its own at this point. The ability to make clones had long since been diminishing. Hanekoma was busy unlocking the last door as the dragon bit his leg and flung him away. The dragon was smoke, and there didn't even seem to be a good way to hurt it. Fire and smoke were everywhere. It made it really hard to see the blades of the peacock coming.

Say what you want about Fallen Noise. They always found ways to work together. The peacock didn't make any exception to teamwork, it flashed its tail and everything froze. Hanekoma could see the world moving around him. The peacock being the only thing able to move in the motionless environment. It whipped it's tail across his chest. He switched places with his anima and rushed to the last barrier. He was almost done. The dragon bit him again and breathed black fire and red smoke. "

Well... it's all over..." Hanekoma made the confession as the dragon snarled as if it were the victor. "The world ends with you." He told it as he turned back into his human form and he sacrificed his noise form to cause it to explode. It instantly killed the dragon and the peacock was destroyed as the anima's blow up as well. "I don't think I need to use them anymore anyway." He said as he locked the door behind him. It was a suicide attack. But it was one Hanekoma prepared. Even Fallen Noise couldn't survive the finishing move of the Producer.

It was time to run.

XXXX

Sho wasn't done with either of them. The fight went on a little longer, but it was time for Sho to finish them. "Now... after this... someone dies. This was my final solution." He started rattling off number after number. "Three... one... four..." Weiss eyes started to widen as he knew Sho was charging that move up all along. He was aiming square at Weiss ready to destroy the white haired boy. The numbers he rattled off went off faster and faster as the area around them started to turn white. An explosion went off for every number he spoke. He was doing a number a second, then three numbers a second and finally he started firing numbers off like a machine gun. Soon you couldn't even hear all the numbers he was saying. They were all digits of phi. Before Weiss was hit by the blast Thanatos got in the way with both arms in the way. He turned his head to say one thing,

XXXX

Hanekoma had one precious minute to reach Joshua. He was in luck, Joshua was waiting at the meeting spot. He did it! Perfect! Hanekoma felt like he was running in slow motion as he felt the presence of a powerful dark being behind him.

Charon approached.

"Joshua! I got it made!" Joshua's eyes widened as he tried to get closer to Hanekoma. Total panic wiped Joshua's face. A face Joshua never made. Not once. Joshua never had anything to panic about until now.

Charon appeared behind. Hanekoma was punched in the back by a dark green energy punch. Hanekoma's glasses shattered and both eyes were shut with pain as a seal appeared on Hanekoma's back. The force caused glass around them to break and the roads to crack. Street signs bent over. He was hit dead on by Charon's primary attack.

"Take it..."

Hanekoma groaned as he handed him the paper. Charon backed off. Hanekoma was already a dead man walking. His Soul was drained and his body was broken. "I didn't think... I was going to make it... but it's finished."

Hanekoma started to crawl towards Joshua. Charon briskly walked toward him and Joshua felt a wall blocking him off. "No! Don't you kill him! Don't you dare kill him!" Joshua didn't expect it to be this painful to watch.

Hanekoma held the piece of paper against the wall and written on it was: **Find Nanami. ****Joshua blinked. Then he understood. He left them with her. **Hanekoma only had one more thing to say before he died. He turned his head to say one last thing, he spoke and timed his words to the exact second of Thanatos. Weiss watched Thanatos. Joshua watched Hanekoma. They said in unison each to a different person and in a different place, "Give up on yourself... and you give up on the world."

Both were sacrificing themselves.

With a flash of light Thanatos let out a loud yell. Scraps of metal started to impale him one after another.

With a dark green glow Hanekoma grunted and fell to his knees. Gradually falling to the ground. Slumping down and shaking.

Thanatos found the strength to stand. He kept standing, that's all he could do. "SEE YOU IN HELL!"

Thanatos cried out to the sky as tears of pain went down his eyes and quickly vanished from the heat.

Hanekoma died a much quieter death. He lie motionless on the ground as Charon stood over his body and left two golden pins in his eyes. Joshua let out a scream of complete pain, he banged his fist on the barrier before him, "No! YOU SON OF A BITCH! NO!"

He fell to his knees as he banged both arms on the wall, "He didn't... he didn't have to die... son of a bitch... not him... why him?..."

Charon stood up and made the barrier dissipate. "It is not I who wronged you... but fate. He chose this I hate him for choosing this, but fear not. For he has not died for nothing." The demon clutched the piece of paper, "I've been ordered to destroy this piece of paper he tried to give you... I need not mention to the higher ups where the real one is..."

Joshua didn't even listen to the demon. Despite the demon speaking an act of kindness, Joshua kept thinking back of his moments with Hanekoma. Joshua lifted up his head to reveal his full power, "Composer Joshua, I advise you... do not fight me. I will kill you. Even at your strongest... you cannot kill me."

Joshua managed to break the seals earlier, but now he was just filled with pure rage. He let out a cry and his power grew far beyond the limits of a normal Composer.

Joshua flew up into the air as he embraced the full power of the city. He didn't hear a word the demon spoke, he didn't see anything in the city now, but noise. They all needed to die, so he'd see to it they died.

White and godlike Joshua turned his attention to Zero. "I won't kill you, Charon. Not today."

"Thanatos? THANATOS!" Weiss used a healing pin on him, but it had no point to it. Thanatos was smoking and he took the full blow of the attack.

"Hey... asshole..."

Thanatos spoke to him, "You keep living... I think... I think... in death... for the first time... I'm happy. Death is like sliding into a warm bath... It's... nice."

Sho paused a moment and took a few steps forward. Both hands in his pocket, "One down... with a remainder of one. You're next."

Weiss looked up at Sho and behind him was a very pissed off Joshua glowing in full power. The widening of Weiss' eyes told Sho something was behind him.

He turned his head to see Joshua in his full Composer power. He blatantly was breaking rules in using his full power on restrictions. "Say your prayers... I'm killing... ALL OF YOU!"

A scan stretched out across the whole city. It grabbed every taboo noise and pulled it towards Joshua. Sho's eyes widened himself as every taboo noise was going to attack Joshua at once, "He couldn't possibly meant to-"

Sho fell to his knees when he saw Joshua's power now. Upon Hanekoma's death, Joshua's soul energy was now triple what it normally was. Combine that with him being Composer in all his glory. That meant the noise were dead meat.

He didn't even use a phone, he just waved his hand as a building snapped into pieces and slammed against countless noise. He waved his other hand as cars, signs, vending machines and everything that **was** nailed to the floor went flying towards the countless noise on the ground. Fifty by fifty, they were crushed. Joshua glared at a entire street of noise as all of Shibuya turned into a weapon against the noise. With every wave of the hand he envisioned another memory of Hanekoma which caused his power to rise. With every memory came another attack. Tears ran down the face of the Composer, you couldn't see it due to the sheer amount of power in the way. All at once he rained down beams of light. They were beautiful white beams with a heavenly glow.

Every reaper, every noise, everything stopped fighting in awe of the Composer. "That boy... he's a god."

Kariya said. Kotori stepped back in fear, "That's the power of our Composer... that's the power of our city."

Okami was in his own little street as he looked up in fear as he saw all the noise Sho went to so much work to make gone, all gone. All of them attacked and didn't even reach him in the sky. The whole city fell apart to crush the noise. He was injured, badly injured and he wasn't healing.

"I see... Hanekoma is dead. Thanatos... Hanekoma... the angels will pay. The Noise will pay. I don't know what my life measures up to... but they'll pay." Weiss said with his head bowed and tears going down his own eyes.

"He didn't need to die." He got up and started to leave Sho didn't even try to stop him. What was the point. All he'd make was more noise, what were more Noise to the Composer now? His power was beyond imagination. While Charon was busy with Hanekoma Joshua took the liberty of sabotaging the Taboo Noise seals around the city. There wasn't going to be anymore backup. Now, he questioned for the first time, if the Noise really had the power to destroy Shibuya.

Neku walked down the sidewalk and looked up to see Joshua in the sky. He just gave Joshua a look of that said he knew what had happened. Neku knew what had transpired, but he'd shed not even a tear.

Shiki asked him, "What's wrong?"

Neku kept walking and told her, "Hanekoma's dead, Shiki. This city is on the brink of despair. We're leaving this place, just as we said we would."

Shiki looked back at the city. Paused for a moment if she really should leave, "But... maybe the city isn't done for! Maybe we can help!"

Neku reminded her, "Leave this place and don't look back. That's what I'm going to do. I can't risk you... not now..."

Shiki looked back and waited as her husband kept walking away towards the airport. He ignored the flashes of light behind him as he glared at the floor with both hands in his pockets.

"Hanekoma... if you can hear this... I'll remember you. I'll live for the moment... I'll expand my world. I'll... I'll care about others." Neku bent his head and didn't let himself cry. It was a form of torture not to cry for someone. But it was also a form of respect. He wanted Hanekoma to see that he'd keep walking. That he'd live on. That he'd teach the world to do the same.

Shiki slowly started to catch up when she pointed ahead. "Look Joshua's at the airport." She said that less worried than she should have been.

The look in Joshua's eyes was murderous. He called form a distance, "This is your last chance Neku... Become Composer... Take my place! Kill me! Save this city! Save Hanekoma's legacy!"

Neku kept walking and told him flat out, "I won't."

Joshua responded by pulling out his phone and with a click a traffic light changed. A bus started to accelerate. Neku's eyes widened as he turned his head to see Shiki a little ways behind him. He reached his hand out to run for her, but Joshua was instantly standing between Neku and Shiki. With an open palm, Neku went flying into a wall. As for Shiki she got thrown into traffic. Shiki went flumbling into the middle of the street and she hit the ground really hard. Like she felt like she broke bones when she slammed against the street.

The eyes Joshua wore were the eyes of a man who lost the only one he cared about, "He may as well have been my father. I'm done playing Neku. Become Composer, or I'll make you feel the same thing I did."

Neku was stunned he didn't say anything. It was the wrong answer. He needed to say he'd become Composer. He didn't.

Behind Joshua, Shiki looked up to see a bus going faster and faster until finally a large thud could be heard.

She was crushed by the bus and Neku's eyes narrowed. "No! Dammit NO!" Joshua didn't smile, he didn't smirk, he could only keep frowning and stare down at Neku. "She's dead Neku... she'll stay dead if you don't become Composer."

Neku grabbed Joshua by the throat, "BRING HER BACK!"

He kept that fierce glare on Neku, "No, become Composer and bring her back to life. Wait too long and she'll die for good."

Neku punched Joshua in the face and screamed at him, "SON OF A BITCH!" He hit Joshua again and again.

Joshua didn't even flinch, "Kill me."

Neku's eyes welled up with tears as he was truly forced once again to comply with Joshua's demands. He held Joshua and let go of his throat. Joshua got up with both arms to his left and right in the fashion of a cross. "There's a gun by your knees. I'd use it quick."

Neku was on both knees now crying on a loaded revolver. Tears hit the handle. Then a glare. Neku picked up the gun. His hands gripped the gun and he looked up at Joshua. He pointed the gun at him and people screamed aloud as four gun shots echoed throughout the streets.

End Day 7

(The final Chapter is currently under development. I fell in love with the story again. I intend to edit the 3rd week as well, but I will do that when the final chapter is completed. For now I kinda looked back and kinda feel like a jerk. In retrospect I think I was an asshole back when I wrote this. I still might be. But right now I feel like leaving an apology or two to everyone who put up with me.

I kinda missed the message of this game when I started. You listen to people. That's how you grow. I needed to listen to people more and sooner. I still need to listen to people. Closing yourself up is the beginning of ignorance.

Now before the moment gets any more full of cheese go ahead and hit the next button. I'll keep writing if you keep reading, deal?)

Eternal blessing

road to zenith

finger of god

sword of heaven


	15. Week Three, Day One: The Players

(Thank you all for your patience. This is my break from working on my book and honestly I kinda got back on this fic for the holidays. I didn't want to leave the story in Limbo because it is indeed a good story. But I will remind everyone that these chapters will still be coming out slowly and when I need a break from my other works. If any of you would like to see any of my other stories or just wan to say hi email me. theworldendswithyoutoo(at symbol)live(dot)com.

The World Ends With You Too

The Final Week

Day 1: The Players

0er0

Joshua had always been a natural planner. Every good plan involved prediction... events, ties, people and even coming up with fail-safes in case unpredicted events occur. Joshua had not prepared for this and did not have any sort of fail-safe for the unpredicted event. "Honestly, Neku didn't have to do THAT." Joshua moaned as he rose up and remembered the pain vividly. There were five gunshots, one for each of his limbs and one bullet hit him under the belt. Be it either the loss of blood or the blows to the face Joshua died much slower than he intended to. The violent crime happened in front of everyone's face... but it didn't matter thanks to the ability to hide in the underground. Neku was enraged when Joshua forced that choice upon him. Joshua pushed Shiki, Neku's fiance in front of a bus. Joshua wasn't going to resurrect her... only the Composer could. If Neku wanted to bring her back, he'd have to kill Joshua. Neku beat him to death with the butt of a pistol until he died. Joshua didn't manage to see if Neku was actually enjoying that or not.

For now Joshua was no longer alive. He had died exactly as he planned. The seal Hanekoma gave him would send him to the Angel plane upon death. Better late than never, Hanekoma had been working on noise seals and transportation to the angel plane for months. Charon... he was still a problem, but luckily he was no longer Joshua's problem. Joshua had a very different problem. Where he was. "The Angel plane..." There was thick fog everywhere. It was bright and the floor seemed to be some type of golden colored crystal. He had never seen light travel through fog like this before. The whole experience was otherworldly, but at the same time that was to be expected. He wasn't in his world anymore. This was the domain of angels and from what he knew, they were powerful. He tried to take steps in some unknown direction and he grunted with pain. His body wasn't wounded, but everything still hurt.

"Well if it isn't Shibuya's Ex-Composer. By the look of you I can tell not everything went as planned." Joshua knew the familiar voice. He couldn't manage a smile, but he did manage a few words, "Spare me Hanekoma." A glowing figure appeared it wasn't recognizable at all. The image would normally be frightening, but at the same time it was familiar. "I suppose I should cut you a break, chief." Hanekoma took his human form, but the clothes were now a simple white suit. He did keep the glasses, but behind them were burning eyes, "I'll take this form for you, but angels aren't used to accommodating humans here. Think of yourself as a human unable to see the Underground. You won't notice us angels until we reveal ourselves to you. But take it easy, you just died." Joshua kept trying to walk and kept failing. He shook his head and got up, "I can't, I need to speak with the Director at once." Hanekoma picked up the boy and started walking him in a direction. "You're always helping me out..." Joshua muttered in his moment of weakness.

"I could never fathom why." Another figure appeared. Agent, the one who controlled Weiss, took form out of the light in the area. He took the shape of a much older looking version of Weiss. The hair style was different, the eyes were burning a gold color, but what really made him different was that expression on his face, "Joshua... you should not be here, your very presence here insults this place." Joshua found that amusing, "Agent, nice to see you too. It seems you're very much like me... acting quickly to your enemy's actions." Agent was insulted by that comment, "Do not compare yourself to an angel... You're a mortal and without a doubt the worst Composer who's ever lived. Why don't you behave like a good mortal and stay dead." Agent went ahead and guessed the situation, "The fact you are here... Neku took your place. I can't imagine what sin you committed to force your job upon him. Do you believe he'll be able to save your city? Do you believe he will make even the slightest difference in the grand scheme of things?"

Joshua stood on his own for a moment and walked up to him, "I'm sure you don't care what I believe. Even so... I'll tell you that Shibuya can and will survive the noise. It can and will survive whatever trial may come its way. That being said... I believe it will survive even you." Agent didn't even entertain the thought of Shibuya surviving the noise, "You wanted to speak with the Director? Let's see what he has to say on this matter..."

XXX

Weiss woke up with a gasp and a breathless huff. After a few gasps he grabbed his forehead to feel if he indeed really was alive. He didn't know what was going on, all of his life his memories were vague and unimportant. Why was it now that he remembered everything that had happened to him so clearly? _How long was I controlled?... Agent... What am I exactly? Am I an angel too? No... I'm just a body. _ Weiss wasn't too sure what he was at the moment. He was even less sure of how he was alive. The last thing he remembered Agent left him to be killed by Sho Minamimoto. The Conductor was powerful, the only reason he survived was thanks to Thanatos. Memories came flooding back, "Thanatos..." The moment repeated in his mind, "Give up on yourself and you give up on the world." Weiss got up and was angry. He smashed his fist against the wall, "You didn't have to die for my sake..." Even if Thanatos wanted to die, he didn't have to sacrifice himself for something like him. What was Weiss to him? Weiss was his enemy, wasn't he? Weiss remembered being controlled and all he had done, Agent had always been manipulating him one way or another.

Was he still under Agent's control? Should he even be able to move? Wait... why did he have free will if he was just a vessel for Agent to use? Weiss grabbed his head with no avail the answers didn't come. There was one simple truth, "I shouldn't be able to move... If I'm really just a body angels use... I shouldn't be able to do anything on my own. When Agent left... all that should remain is a lifeless corpse... Is he still in my head?" Weiss knew the answer to that: No. When Agent left, he left for good. Why was he acting on his own? None of it made any sense to him. By all accounts he shouldn't have got up. He looked in his hand and noted the four pins he used to fight against Sho Minamimoto. They were four of what seemed to be a set similar to that of the Darklit planets.

Sword of Heaven- A melee shockwave pin.

Road to Zenith- A dash pin that creates an aura of energy and allows the user to charge into enemies.

Finger of God- A tornado pin that could be used to create tornados to limit enemy movements.

Spirit's Blessing- A recharging healing pin.

All in all they seemed to be powerful pins. However whenever the set was complete they'd be the most powerful pins Weiss could use. Hanekoma seemed to be the one who made them in the first place. But if that was the case there was no way to finish the set now, even so Weiss hardly had time to compose himself before he heard something, "A girl?..." A shriek confirmed that it was indeed a girl. Someone close by, a player being attacked by noise. Weiss didn't spend much time standing still. He ran in the general direction of the shriek and found a damsel in distress. "You! Forge a pact with me!" She said as she dodged several noise attacks. Weiss didn't even have time to think before the girl pressured him into accepting, "Are you sure?" Was all he could mutter before the girl made it clear, "Quick!" Weiss was unsure, but there wasn't time... the noise would kill her if she were alone. He bowed his head and saw no alternative, "Alright, I accept."

Light filled the area and power filled the partner's bodies. Both eyes opened at the same time, "Pact complete." Now both were ready to face the noise. One could only wonder if Weiss made the right choice in this hasty action, but there was no time to question the past or future. For now he had to face the present. He battled the noise with this unknown girl and with pin in hand he started the battle. Weiss raced around the noise with skill, normal noise were no match for him. Unfortunate that he wasn't fighting normal noise. They were fast and strong, he barely managed not to get hit by the countering noise. _Why are the noise this strong?_ There wasn't much time, he had to erase them before they could erase his partner. Weiss may have been experienced, but his partner most definitely wasn't. From what he could tell she was mostly blocking and barely holding her own on her end. He remembered clearly, "These are perfect noise." The memories he held were fully available. It was surprising how much Agent repressed.

The girl wasn't doing too well. The noise he now fought were worse than Taboo, he knew from what seemed to be his implanted memories on just how strong they were. No doubt there was a type of database the angels used. All of it was implanted in his head. He expertly predicted the noise, but was running out of time. Without being able to be able to come to terms with everything that's happened he took his rage out on the noise. The boy rushed, slashed and crushed his enemies with every psych in his arsenal. Wind gathered the noise together pulling them all into a tornado. Weiss rushed around the tornado and slashed them with a powerful shockwave attack. In the end he even found himself forced to use his healing pin just to keep his partner alive. Why was he fighting perfect noise?... He remembered, Shibuya was running out of time. The noise were going to attack soon and this was just the first wave. With difficulty he managed to kill the few noise that attacked before turning his attention to his new partner.

"Thanks for the help." The girl said facing Weiss and giving him a look at her for the first time. The white haired male paused a moment and was certain he had seen that face before. "Have we met?" The girl found that an interesting comment and ultimately corrected him, "No, we haven't. At least I don't think so... why do you ask?" Weiss was positive he'd seen her somewhere, "Well... I just..." Before he could manage to explain himself he felt the presence of a powerful reaper. Definitely an officer class reaper. It was Kotori and she was Game Master for the week, "Hello Players. My apologies for interrupting your conversation." The reaper looked them both over and seemed equally surprised to see both of them. After an unusually long pause she said, "You are Weiss... are you still in league with the angel's and the destruction of Shibuya?" Weiss didn't answer, he didn't know. Before he answered his partner made the comment, "The Shibuya's destruction? Why would he have a plan like that?"

Kotori turned her attention to his partner, "And you must be... no... you are not. You couldn't be Shiki." Weiss turned his head fast enough to snap his neck, "Shiki? You mean Shiki Misaki! But she looks nothing like her! She looks like..." She looked like her best friend, Eri. Only she was younger. It looked like she was fifteen, that couldn't be right. "But you aren't Shiki." Weiss said this and Shiki jumped at the comment, "Wait! How do you know me?" How did they figure out that body wasn't hers? Weiss recalled back to reading Neku's book, "That's right... your price is your appearance isn't it." Shiki was in Eri's body again. Her price must not have changed, "How did you know that? That's my price... but how did you know that?" Shiki was getting freaked and Kotori kept a serious look on her face, "Setting aside your confusion. My mission explanation is in order. According to game rules the game master is not allowed to lie to you when giving the mission. Over a period of four days... you must complete four tasks. Three of the tasks may be completed in any order you wish. The last task is to defeat me... I will not battle you until all other tasks are completed. If you are unable to complete the tasks given within four days, you will be erased."

Shiki asked a fair question, "Why didn't you just assign four missions... you know. One for each day?" Weiss didn't want her to give the reaper any ideas, as things were doing the four tasks was easier than four separate missions. "What are the tasks?" Kotori pulled out her phone, "The first three must be completed before you fight me. I will text you these tasks and at the beginning of every day I will give a hint based on the number of tasks you've completed. The tasks are: Catch the kitty, catch the fox, catch the bunny and finally defeat the game master." It begged to question why the missions didn't sound difficult, but then the players hardly felt the need to ask. There was a trick to the tasks, but perhaps the hints she promised would be of some help. The game master was Kotori, who was known to be tricky. She had foiled Okami's missions more than once. It begged to question she was stronger than him. However the Game Master told them to truth, "All missions, by some means or another must be able to be beaten. Only on rare cases is this not true. With the current status of Shibuya, the noise are unusually powerful, as such... I've made appropriate handicaps so that the tasks are possible. Ultimately there is one mission: Complete the given tasks. But beware... even the weakest of noise will pose something of a challenge for this week. Do not expect a handicap from them."

No one EVER expected a handicap from noise. But Weiss had a more important question, "But... with Shibuya in the state it's in... why is there a Reaper's Game. This can't have been sanctioned by the Composer." Kotori seemed to find it equally annoying, "It is indeed sanctioned by the Composer. The former Composer... Joshua... has taken both my and this girl's price. Until the game is completed... we will not be able to collect our prices back. We will both be granted our lives back if the game is completed. However, since I must face you both, only one of us can survive. In all likelihood... I will erase this girl. The game will end in four days... this was decided by Joshua as well." Kotori glared at Shiki as if she had an axe to grind, "Even the current Composer cannot stop this game..." Shiki gulped, "Do I know you?" Kotori shook her head, "I highly doubt you can recall anything about me... Shiki Misaki." At that the Game master vanished before Weiss took note of her comments, "There's a new Composer then... If not Joshua... there's only one person it could be, right Shiki?" The girl didn't know, "How should I know?" Weiss ignored that comment, "You should know... but then you just died. You'll collect yourself soon enough." The boy bit his lip, _I've partnered with her... was this the right move?_

XXX

"I can't do this. I can't be a reaper." Kotori looked in her early twenties and wasn't doing well for her first day. She couldn't erase them and what was worse, "I can't allow myself to die either..." But she was out of options, what little she had, "Even if its my life or theirs... What right do I have to live off of borrowed time... At the cost of another person's life?" Honestly she wasn't a real reaper. Real reapers valued destruction, she valued life. Real reapers killed or were killed themselves, she couldn't do either. Reapers didn't dismiss noise before they finished players, she did. "That's the third time..." She couldn't finish them off, the other reapers could. This was years ago.

Kotori was crafty and more than capable of erasing high numbers of players. It seemed to the other reapers as a weakness. Some laughed and said she'd be killed by a player. Some shrugged and said she'd either make it or she wouldn't. Some said, "What the factor do I care? Who gives a decimal about the other zeroes. You're subtracting from my art time!" There were others who said food references and some who ranted about deserving a promotion by now. Overall she didn't matter the first week on the job, who did? Soon came the moment of truth. She was almost out of time when she cornered a couple of players outside a cafe. She summoned noise to deal with them and neither were a match for her. It was just before the final blow when she dismissed the noise and fell to her knees. After a sigh she bent over and wept at her good nature being her end. She was willing to erase players who deserved it, but for herself? Killing someone else could only be justified (at least to her) by protecting oneself or others. It wasn't you did for personal gain... especially not for a little more time... only then to erase more players. What use was it?

It was then she heard a voice behind her, a comforting voice with years of experience, "You can't kill just so you can life, can you?" The poor woman turned and felt pathetic, "I can't..." The man walked closer where she could see his face, it was the first time she met Hanekoma. "I can help you, but we don't have much time." Kotori asked a question any reaper would ask, "Why are you helping me?" Hanekoma picked her up and smirked, "We could use more reapers like you... but the current system in place is not designed for you. If you're willing to risk erasure, there's a chance I can modify your very being into something above a reaper. A reaper feeds on the essence of death and thus their life is extended, you need something far stronger than death to survive." Kotori paused and wondered just who this man was. She was fast running out of time and her hands were fading. Hanekoma put his hand on her forehead and Kotori fell asleep instantly. She was unconscious, burnt out like a light bulb. She didn't know how long she was asleep, but when she woke up her phone was different and her wings were more than different.

White wings and a special reaper phone. The phone had a report of her points which now she had six. The only text message said, "For every life you save, so then life shall be returned. Rise through the ranks of the reapers, but don't ever let them see your wings." At first she didn't understand, she went through her days as a reaper and rarely erased a player. More often than not she saved players rather than kill them. She gave hints, sabotaged other reapers and even went so far as to erase reapers. She earned a fearsome reputation. Reapers all over the game were sabotaged and killed by one another . With every reaper that failed she was rewarded. Of course, she kept up appearances by erasing players she thought deserved to die. "Those who are unworthy of life... do not deserve a second chance." She said as a player died by her powerful White Noise. Some players died by trick she started, "Kill your partner and I'll let you out of the game." It was a trick other reapers began to copy. However her trick had more class, she would always sick noise on the one who tried to kill their partner. Whenever she met a lone player she'd secretly guide them to another player using noise to chase them. When a pact was formed or a life was extended because of her actions, she gained points. Every time erasure was stopped she'd climb the ranks of the reapers.

It was most surprising to her to get a promotion, despite her reputation. It was thought that she was a reaper if there ever was one, taking all the kills for herself. Kotori actually fought rarely and rarer still were tough opponents. Most players had no reason to fight her, she was actually helping them under the radar. What was strange was she taught other reapers a valuable lesson: A reaper can get players to kill other reapers. Kotori for her first time as game master managed to erase players and enemy reapers using only missions. As the master she excelled at saving lives. However, her tendencies did not go completely unnoticed. Joshua and his Conductor knew all along, but he let her continue. The next to notice her work was Sho Minamimoto. He could do the math at the rate she was gaining points and it didn't add up. He did not care in the least, she was useful to him. Sho managed to stay out of her way and let her thin the number of weak reapers. It helped him out when it came to erasing players, there were plenty more to erase thanks to her.

Speaking of the Conductor, Megumi wasn't like most reapers. When he was game master you had to be unnaturally strong willed to reach day 7. It seemed no player had ever beaten Anguis Cantis or his time abilities. When Kotori fought him when she was first a player, he wished he could have someone as talented as her under his command. He got his wish and ignored her method. Perhaps she held a grudge against him... but she served him well. He turned a blind eye to any complaints about her and told other reapers, "A reaper is not so different from a player... players compete against one another for a chance at life. We reapers compete for more time to live. If there are less reapers... that will be best for you. The strong reapers shall survive and I praise her for her making use of this. I find her behavior understandable... not treacherous. Do as the players do and trust no one except your support reapers. You are competing against all reapers, even officers." Megumi perhaps could have taken their side, but Kotori was part of Joshua's plan. He learned her methods and decided to use some of the same tactics later. "Have one player kill another... I should try that myself." He said rubbing his chin.

Over time Kotori slowly rose through the ranks until the fateful day. She was watching her son, he looked at art so peacefully. She always watched, that's all she could do thanks to her price. Be it direct or indirect she would not be a mother to her son. After a sigh she thought about her survival all those years. "Neku..." His head turned as she said it unable to see or hear her. Kotori was one of the people who knew Joshua as the Composer, she met her when she lost her game long ago. He let her child within her live, but made it clear, "Your son will play a game for the one you lost and for the punishment he escaped. There will be time to earn your price back, but until that time, you will repay your debt to me. For the life I spared and for the time you will one day reclaim." In all fairness, he didn't have to help her at all, but the Composer wouldn't allow her to pay her son's labor cost. Her son was her partner that game... and she lost the game. There was no telling what Joshua planned to do with Neku later. "I will allow him to live... but I will take the life I gave him one day... and he will play the game on my behalf." When she saw it come to fruition it didn't make sense. Joshua charged Neku with a loaded firearm and she wanted to save her son, but was powerless. She was always powerless, she could not visit him, she could not be seen by him, everyone who tried to talk to Neku about her would fail. Neku for his entire life would never know her as his mother, she wouldn't even exist to him. No matter how badly she wanted to be a part of his life, she couldn't.

Joshua killed her son, he killed Neku with a smile. He was going to play the game again as Joshua promised her. The bastard planned everything. Her price made it where even her own husband couldn't talk to Neku about her and now he was going to take Neku's life. For three weeks she watched her son play the game Joshua had planned. During that time Kotori might as well have not existed at all. The one and only thing she could do was watch him. She did try to help in little ways. She summoned noise to chase him into Shiki. She held them back until they forged a pact, Joshua was using her to protect his proxy. How couldn't she though? It was her son. Her son beat the first week; he won the game.

Kotori understood him, why he coudln't relate to anyone. She believed Neku never really had a mother and missed that bond that gives a child trust to others. He never had a mother, and he never could. Not even so much as a mention of what she was like. Even when he asked his dad would always say it was too painful or he didn't wish to talk about it. Through this game she saw her sons life and watched his story unfold. What made her saddest of all was that her son was the exact type of person she'd erase. Uzuki used one of Kotori's favorite tricks, asking one player to kill the other. Only Uzuki wasn't going to use noise to interrupt it, she was just going to let Neku kill Shiki. It was fortunate indeed that Hanekoma stopped Neku. The week progressed she learned about her son and watched him change. Every time she could she'd help him in indirect ways. Often it was just getting right people to bump into them. Kotori watched with pain and pleasure as the city changed with Neku. At the very least her son had survived the Reaper's game and taught him more than she ever could.

When Neku came back to life, she watched him with a smile. Joshua approached her days after this game, "You did well. Well enough to become one of my officers." She didn't want the job, but it wasn't her choice. Until Joshua gave her price back, she belonged to him. So she kept watching her son at a distance, "I've done well you say?... Well enough to be an officer? I doubt that." Joshua told her the truth, "I'm understaffed... I've returned a portion of your price. Small, but you've earned it. You should be able to help Neku indirectly in the RG. Who knows I might even let him see you... but he'll never realize your identity until I've fully returned your price. Keep up the good work." Kotori stopped him before he left, "Will I ever be able to talk to him?" Joshua responded in an uncaring tone, "Years from now and he won't think much of you. When your years are spent you may spend time with your son. But you'll have to play a game to earn your price back. Until that game... you'll wait under my orders. I will call on you again."

In her free time she helped in any way she could. She invested money and time into helping her son. Kotori worked to help get his book published, she helped his friends be more successful. Kotori really only had one goal in mind, she wanted to give Neku a hug and apologize for all he'd been through. Now she finally had hope of getting her chance. Joshua still had her price and now he had Shiki's price. What did he take from her? Surely not her appearance. He took something dear, now was the time to do or die. She set up her missions as planned, there was no time to worry about Shiki. She was game master and she was going to do whatever it took to get Neku back. Still even now she didn't want to erase Shiki... but she had no choice. She was going to do her job and if Shiki survived, then that was the will of the world. It seemed now that Kotori was fortunate to have a powerful player protecting Shiki. "Weiss... Are you with the angels?... have you doomed her life by partnering with her?... I won't forgive you if you get her killed and neither will Neku. Game on."

XXX

"It's not like them to be late." Rhyme was more than a little at the moment. It was true Neku usually didn't call her back, but Shiki ALWAYS picked up or called her back. What could have happened to her? One might suppose she was jumping to conclusions to think something was wrong. Then again... given the nature of current events... it wasn't such a jump. Rhyme was worrying herself sick and Beat was doing just the opposite: Grinding down an escalator at a local airport. Rhyme let out a sigh as Beat was being cheered on by fans or yelled at by staff. The girl kept calling Neku to see if she could get an answer. Eventually the phone did pick up, "Neku? Are you alright?" There was no response for the moment. So she went ahead and asked another question, "Is Shiki there?" Still no answer, the silence was aggravating. The breathing on the other end was definitely Neku, "Neku? Where are you?" Neku finally spoke audible words, "I need you and Beat to get out of Shibuya. Shiki and myself have been delayed."

Rhyme took a reasonable guess at what might have happened, "Did Joshua do something to delay your flight?" Neku went ahead with that lie, "Yes. Head on out without me for now. Shiki and I will catch up, but get out now." He didn't want them to get caught up in the mess he was in. Neku didn't get what he wanted, "Neku, what did Joshua do?... Where's Shiki?" Rhyme waited until Neku answered, "There's a short window of time for you to leave. Shiki and I will be fine, but it'll be easier for us to get out with you and Beat somewhere safe. I'm not trying to be here longer than I have to, but Joshua has unavoidably stalled the two of us. I need you to take care of yourself and Beat. Can you do that for me?" Rhyme wanted to shout back at him... so she did, "How did he stall you? What did he do, Neku?" The only thing she heard from the phone after that was a dial tone. Frustrated she turned and called her brother, "Beat! Neku and Shiki are in big trouble!"

Beat came riding to a furious halt near her, "What's up?" Rhyme summed it up for him, "Something happened, Neku won't tell me what." Beat wasn't a smart man, but he could smell bull, "The kind of trouble he won't tell us about, huh? That sounds big. How do we help?" Rhyme pointed to the door, "First, we find him!" Beat agreed wholeheartedly, "Right!" The skater went flying off in the direction of the nearest exit. "Let's help him out! We need to be there when a friend is in trouble." Rhyme nodded, "The kind of trouble where he wants us to get out... it's been a while since he needed us." Beat didn't wait for his sister, he just raced off to the first road he could find, "If Shibuya is where they are, then that's where we'll be! Look out Neku I'm gonna find you!" Then of course the moment was ruined by Rhyme yelling while he coud still hear her, "You're going the wrong way! That's the airport runway." Beat paused a moment to see planes before finally turning around. "I... I knew that... was doing a little warmup exercise... As I was saying... We're coming Neku!"

XXX

Weiss didn't really know Shiki that well. In fact, most of the things he knew were imprinted upon him by Agent. The problem was, he couldn't trust such things, Agent wasn't someone to take information from. After all, that angel thought Shibuya needed to be destroyed. It didn't matter now, he needed to think. If he was Agent's puppet, could he be controlled again? Or did Agent remove himself entirely from Weiss. From what Weiss recalled, Agent had no idea Weiss would start moving on his own, why was he moving on his own? Did he have a reason to be alive? Not really, everything he was kinda got left behind at the tower. Everything except, "Nanami..." Weiss gulped and thought about her. Odds are she was disgusted with him by now. Still there was a glimmer of hope that she might forgive him. What troubled him as well was why Shiki was playing the game. Last he checked, from what memory served, Shiki was still alive. Not only this, there were few things that Neku couldn't protect her from. He knew a lot about Neku... more than anyone could want to know. It seemed Agent had a lot of imprinted information on Neku Sakuraba and Joshua.

Weiss finally started to speculate on what happened, _If Shiki is dead now... and Joshua has a replacement. It stands to reason that Joshua could kill Shiki to force Neku to stay in this city... He's definitely not below such tactics._ Shiki interrupted, "So, about the mission..." Weiss refocused on the present. She continued, "Shouldn't we try to figure it out... or at least explain what's going on with Joshua or... your relationship with the angels?" Shiki sounded like she had no idea what was going on. Even if she did just die... she should know more than he did. It seemed he had no choice but to fill her in, "Well... Joshua might have been the one who killed you. It may have been a trick to force Neku into the position of Composer." Shiki now seemed even more confused, "How could my death cause something like that?" Weiss felt like Shiki was out of it or something to be asking a question like that. "If you died Neku certainly would seek revenge on who killed you." Shiki had a hard time believing that for some reason, "So since Joshua make have killed me... then... Neku would be mad about this, enough to seek revenge?" Weiss was about to ask if she was sick or something. In fact, at the moment she seemed downright stupid. How couldn't she put two and two together? He was about to ask what was wrong, but was caught offguard.

An approaching girl in school uniform walked up to them both, "Excuse me, are you Shiki and Weiss?" Shiki seemed oddly bubbly to that comment, "Yes we are. Are you are a player too?" The schoolgirl cocked her head and nodded, "I thought if I talked to some other players; we could figure out the mission. I'm Koneko by the way." Weiss paused a moment and squinted, _How did she know our names?_ Shiki kept talking, no doubt putting up an act. Someone like Shiki was experienced enough to know something was up. "Did that reaper lady talk to you?" _Keep talking, but don't let your guard down._ Weiss kept his guard up as Koneko responded, "Well she said we needed to catch a bunny... a kitty and a fox. Any idea what that might mean?" Shiki didn't know, "Well know, but we'd have a better shot at figuring it out if we stick together." Koneko happily agreed. "We sure would! You're very nice, Shiki." Weiss went ahead and asked a question which pointed out an obvious problem, "So Koneko, where's your partner?" Koneko came very close to his face and gave a cute smile, "She's hiding somewhere. But I think I may see something that could interest you." The schoolgirl looked at Shiki's doll. Weiss and Shiki both looked at it too, "Mr. Mew?" Koneko nodded, "That's a kitty if I ever saw one." With surprising speed she swiped Mr. Mew from Shiki's hands and ran away.

Weiss couldn't use his psyches. They weren't in combat. "Crap! After her!" Shiki whimpered and started to run, "Why did she steal Mr. Mew?" Koneko shouted back to them with pride, "I've got the kitty!" The educated guess became a statement as Weiss ran, "She's with Kotori! We've got to get Mr. Mew back!" Shiki ran as fast as she could with Weiss and questioned, "Mr. Mew? We need to catch Mr. Mew?" Weiss found that as good of a guess as you could get, "Seems that way." Shiki wanted to pout, "But how am I supposed to fight without Mr. Mew?..." Weiss looked at her and wondered what was wrong with her, she was one of the player's who beat Kitaniji. She beat a game master with Neku and she had years with Neku to hone her skills. She should be more experienced than Weiss, and yet she wasn't alert enough to keep her primary weapon away from an enemy. What was more she had no idea what was going on around her. Koneko had to be a reaper. "She's fast." Weiss said as they lost her. There was no way they could keep up with Koneko. He'd never seen anyone move that fast. Shiki huffed, "She got away?"

Weiss went ahead and guessed, "Definitely. She knew she could outrun us from the start... What's more she caught us offguard. We need to get that doll back, it's no doubt one of the tasks." Shiki looked around the shopping district, "Do you think I could fight with a doll other than Mr. Mew?" Weiss thought she'd know the answer to that question. "Well... I guess you could buy a doll and try it." Weiss walked over to a booth and picked up a doll, "Buy a couple of these stuffed animals and try them." Darklit entertainment had copies of Mr. Mew, one of them should do. Shiki gulped at the price, "I'm not sure I could buy that..." Weiss wondered, _Did she switch her brain with her body?_ The at last he told her the obvious, "Shiki... you're one of the richest people in Shibuya... I think you could buy a doll or two. Oh! When your body got switched did your belongings get switched too? No... you had Mr. Mew... and your pin. Didn't you have any money on you when you died?" Shiki looked at the price worried, "I definitely didn't have that much... and how am I one of the richest people in Shibuya."

Weiss was about to blow a fuse. _Seriously?_ He asked himself if her death could have affected her mental ability. No, Shiki should definitely know that. He went ahead told her, "Look... If you don't have enough money on you, call someone who would." Shiki was just as frustrated as Weiss was, "Who should I call now that I'm dead?" Weiss was about to yell at her the names of people she could call, before he shouted a hand touched his shoulder. His head twirled around to see Neku Sakuraba. "Weiss, you partnered with Shiki?" Weiss could see Neku's power, there was no mistake, "Neku? You're Composer now..." Neku took his hand off Weiss shoulder and walked past him, "You made a pact with Shiki? Knowing full well you could be under the control of angels?" Weiss tried to explain, but the thought made him depressed, "Look... I didn't have a choice... I know I shouldn't have forge a pact with her but... I couldn't let her die." Neku took note of that, "You're not Agent." Then he turned his attention to his bride to be, he smiled and offered Shiki a hug. If anyone in the RG saw him they'd have thought him some sort of pedophile. "Shiki... I'm sorry about what happened, I'll bring you back to life and we'll find a way to change your appearance back later. For now... we need to get out of here alive."

The look on her face wasn't comforted, it was frightened. With three words she shook Neku and Weiss to the bone, "Who are you?" The girl took a step back and wanted to scream, "Who are you people? What's going on?" Neku's face turned from warm to cold and all the happiness on his face faded away, "Shiki?" The girl shouted at Weiss and Neku, "How did you all know who I was? How did you know about Eri and my price? What do I have to do with you?" The girl started huffing visibly scared now of Weiss and Neku. Weiss now understood as he made a horrid mistake. "Her price... wasn't her appearance..." He knew now what Joshua took from Shiki and so did Neku. Neku bowed his head shadowing out his face, "Shiki... do the names Beat and Rhyme mean anything to you?..." Clearly the names didn't. Shiki didn't know them, "What's going on?..." Neku wanted to tell her, but he didn't know how. Weiss went ahead and muttered, "Your price was your life after you met Neku... You're exactly as you were seven years ago... You're who you were when you first met him..." Shiki was still understandably confused, "What are you talking about? Are you saying I know him?" Then she tried to understand, "You're saying... I knew him... and the memories were taken away? Why should I believe that?..."

Neku turned away from the sight of her and told her, "Six years ago... we met and together we beat the reaper's game... Now you'll need to win to get your memories back. Win the mission and you'll remember everything. I can't bring you back to life as you are now... I'm going to see what can be done to help you in the mission." Neku took a few steps away and tossed a doll over his shoulder. "Use that. Weiss... I don't know how to repay you for saving her life... but I ask for more, can you keep her alive for the rest of the game?" The doll was a pig doll, Shiki was busy looking at it as Weiss said, "I'll win the game. See if you can convince the game master to stop the game... after all you're Composer now." Neku didn't want to tell them that he personally couldn't sense Kotori. He didn't know the far effects of her price. Normally a Composer could sense any of their reapers. As things stood with Kotori, she couldn't interact with Neku in any way. This protected her from Neku. He'd never find her, no matter how hard he looked. Joshua probably took what little of her price she had so she could talk with him. "Joshua planned this... I'm going to see what I can do. Take care of her... and... I know it doesn't mean anything now, but I'm sorry for letting you die." He told Shiki before he vanished.

XXX

Joshua wished he could stand a little firmer. In the presence of so many glowing figures a lone human stood in what appeared to be a white stone atrium full of yellow crystal. There weren't decorations, but the place itself seemed beautiful somehow. The room was painfully bright and one could only wish for sunglasses. "I've come to ask for your assistance." Joshua began hiding the nervousness as best he could. His mind was sharp, but his body wanted to tremble, "I KNOW WHY YOU HAVE COME." Said a thundering voice which sounded neither angry nor desperate. At the same time the voice was so loud it was painful. "IN TIME YOU SHALL KNOW OF MY ANSWER. I AS DIRECTOR AM CHARGED WITH THE PROTECTION OF YOUR WORLD. I SHALL NOT MAKE MY DECISION LIGHTLY." Joshua acknowledged this and expected as much, "Shibuya doesn't have long, I pray for swift action on your end." The voice responded, "IF YOU ARE TO PRAY... YOU SHOULD PRAY FOR MORE THAN SWIFT ACTION." The voice somehow sounded solemn and loud. The figure before Joshua was nothing but a mass of glowing light. If light equated to power, he was powerful. Joshua finally made his demand with a serious look straight into the light, "I request that Shibuya face the noise and I seek your guidance on how best to remove the noise from Shibuya."

Agent took this moment to appear and speak more to Joshua than the Director, "The Noise cannot be defeated by normal means. They are ingrained in the very essence of Shibuya. They linger in the heart of the city. They are a disease that will kill the patient and infect the world if it is not cured. We should destroy the infection here and prevent a slow painful death to the city and to the rest of the world. There is no question here... the noise must be eliminated at any cost." Joshua responded with clear irritation, "We are not beaten, Shibuya will not die. If we are the patient then you are the doctor. You're not even trying to save the patient you're trying to save yourself." Agent stopped him there, "You're delusional at your former strength. Shibuya was once the greatest city in the world and you think that greatness will save you now... it won't. Fighting the noise now would only lead to your death and the deaths of others. It's not time to be selfish it's time to see the greater truth. We need to think about more than Shibuya. We must stop this infection here before it spreads."

Joshua still didn't agree, "This isn't an infection and there isn't a way to stop them. These are noise... all you'd be doing is delaying them. Even with your method noise will escape and there will always be noise in the world. Humans will have to face the noise... humans create the noise, it doesn't make sense to destroy an entire Underground and Realground just to kill what little noise you can. I want to face the noise head on, with all of Shibuya fighting. Reapers and players alike." The booming voice clarified, "YOU SEEK TO INVOKE THE CLASH? AGENT, DO YOU BELIEVE THEM CAPABLE OF FACING THE NOISE?" Attention was turned to Agent who Joshua thought he would be inaccurate. Agent gave a more realistic report than Joshua could have hoped for.

Agent went on to say, "Shibuya has the most creativity and imagination that has ever been known. I've spent years calculating the power of both noise and people via construct. I examined every level of the noise as well as their potential power. It's not a simple math equation... it would be possible for them to defeat a good portion of the noise. They might even almost succeed. However, ultimately every living thing in Shibuya would be erased by the noise. This is under the assumption that every living resident were forced into the position of player. This calculation also includes reapers and I even did some generous rounding. No matter how many times I looked at it... the best they could do is kill anywhere from half the noise to seventy five percent. The only ones remaining at the end of the clash would be the most powerful players and reapers... all else would be destroyed entirely. Even the powerful couldn't fight the rest of the noise. The Clash... would be a cruelty I could never wish on a city like Shibuya. It is better we evacuate who we can and destroy it all. That is my opinion."

Joshua found himself surprised with Agent, it was fairly logical, but still. "It may save lives... but when people leave the city so do the noise. Noise latch on to people. Ultimately people have to die for noise to die. The method you suggest would let the noise spread more than my method. Even so... neither of our methods seem to be best. So that means we'll need another means to battle them. I have a way of defeating the noise. We will play a game against them. This interested the other angels, even Agent, "How do you intend to do this?" Joshua began, "I'll need your help to initiate a game against the noise... and with your permission I'll need the help of Neku Sakuraba."

XXX

It had never occurred to Weiss before, but he and Neku were similar. The differences and similarities started to add up in his mind. Neku when he played his first game was in control of himself, but the entire game was being manipulated around him. Weiss wasn't in control of himself, but manipulated the game around him. When Neku entered the game he knew nothing about the rules or the game. When Weiss entered the game he knew all the rules, including the ones he shouldn't know. They were both being controlled and led on at all times, but both in different ways. They both had incredible skill with psyches and had access to a wide range of abilities. They both looked up to Hanekoma and they both learned to like their partners. They both fought a powerful reaper the end of the first week. They both had to play the game again based on higher powers. For their second week they both fought to keep their old partner from getting erased. For their second week they both had to face Sho Minamimoto and they both had a partner save their lives from his flare.

"This game is practically repeating itself." Now he was in the same situation as Neku, an infinite time limit, with no idea where to look. When he looked at Shiki it dawned on him that he had pacted with every single one of Neku's partners only in reverse order. He forged a pact with Beat the first week, Joshua tricked him into a pact the second week and to save the poor girl's life he forged a pact with Shiki. Too many coincidences, "We're so alike... but we're nothing alike." Weiss and Neku had antisocial disorders. Weiss was downright unable to be empathetic towards under people and Neku didn't want anyone to feel empathy for him. They both were changed the first week by the girl they met. Weiss stopped the mental comparison there when he realized the biggest difference between them, "I'm not a real person... I was something created by the angels for Agent to use. I never had own existence, that's why they named me Weiss. I'm just a white slate, a blank person. I didn't really exist." He couldn't help but mutter outloud until Shiki caught him off guard, "Then why did you save my life?"

Weiss didn't really know the answer to that, "I can't say." Shiki asked him another question, "Why are you still helping me?... You and the Neku guy... you're definitely real. Not everyone in life finds their reason to live... even if they were alive." Shiki thought of herself, "There's this girl. Eri... she was the kind of friend you loved and hated at the same time. She was always the pretty one and I was always at her side. As a team... I wanted to make clothes and I wanted her to wear them. But... all I really was... all I've ever been is weak. I wanted Eri around because I didn't want to be alone. I wanted someone to tell me I was good at something. I never thought I had any real purpose in life. That's why when she and I had an argument..." Weiss always wanted to ask her, "I heard you had a fight with her... but... there was just a misunderstanding. She thought you should be a seamstress. You found that out years ago."

Shiki was starting to believe him, "Maybe I really am in the future... I see so many different things about Shibuya. So according to you two I'm a past version of myself... that would explain a lot." Weiss was glad she noticed things like that. But her awareness did put him in an awkward situation, "Neku was my partner years ago? What happened after we won the game? Did he keep talking to me?" Weiss didn't know if it was his place to tell Shiki what Neku was to her, "I'm not sure how to tell you this but... you both became really important to one another. You and Eri made your own brand of clothing. Neku made a company called Darklit entertainment... you made a lot of friends. Although you always hung out with Eri when you were younger, you ended up at Neku's side most of all after the game." Shiki asked a question, "Where were you doing all this? Were you are friend too?" Weiss kinda laughed to the side, "Well... actually I only just met you guys recently... not in a good way either. I don't really have many friends... I kinda... almost got you killed. I summoned a really powerful noise and unleashed it on the city. You were one of the first people there to stop it. It would have killed you if Neku hadn't shown up. I would have killed you if Neku didn't show up."

Shiki pointed out the obvious, "But it doesn't sound like something you'd do." Weiss went ahead and told her, "I was under the control of a powerful angel called Agent. I'm not sure if I should have partnered up with you... if Agent took over... with you in this state... I could kill you." Shiki took his hand and gave the boy a smile, "You did the right thing. After this game, let's be friends. I'm sure Neku would let you hang around since you're doing him a 'favor' right? He asked you to protect me, right? So that means he trusts you... and... I'm normally the trusting type... but... I trust you too. So for now let's get through this game and when it's over we'll be friends, not enemies." Weiss grimaced and then started to laugh, "You act like it's that easy to forgive me." Shiki turned and started to walk away, "You act like it's not. Let's get this mission done, kay?" At that moment both of them were texted the first hint. It was a map of a Shibuya with a little cat paw blinking on one spot of the map. "Cattrack? It looks like a location is a hint." Weiss blinked and looked at it. Shiki didn't waste any time, "Well then, let's go!"

XXX

Neku held out his hand with rotating energy spheres gracing the look of his psychokenesis. On a nearby wall being choked by Neku was Sho Minamimoto smirking like a demon while the psych hung him on the wall. Neku was choking Sho in a manner similar to when he was tricked into using his psych on Shiki. "Tell me everything you saw. What did the angel tell you before he left that body behind?" Sho kept smirking despite the lack of air, "Who died and made you Composer?" Neku hit him with several bolts of energy for that remark. Sho didn't t grunt or flinch. "Joshua did! What happened on the top of Pork City?" Sho still didn't care, "Who gives a factoring factoid. The Agent divided himself away from that fraction of a body of his. One part went to a positive plane and one part stayed in the negative. I was asked to remove the remaining fraction from the equation. I of course did the math... if the body were left there the Agent could have done something with it. So I decided to do as he said and remove it from the equation." Neku asked a question that the audience might be thinking, "Then why ask you to destroy it? If he was going to use it... why did you need to get rid of it?" Sho didn't really give it much thought, well he did, but he didn't care, "No matter, this city is still going to be a junk heap. That's a calculation you can't change." Neku dropped Sho on the ground, "What do you mean." Sho showed Neku a piece of paper, "The angels won't foresee this variable."

XXX

The hint they received worked well. Shiki and Weiss were lead to an abandoned warehouse. On the way there were no traps or tricks. For once everything was going according to plan. "I don't see any other exits... and she definitely could have gone this way." Shiki did her best to focus on the mission now, "I think you're right. It's got to be in that building." Weiss managed to keep his focus equally well. "I'm not sure, there may be a trap inside..." Shiki didn't see an alternative, "We need to go inside though." Weiss went ahead and told her, "Right now I'm a little unsure of myself. I'm not sure if Agent could take over my body at a crucial time. So I want you to stay alert and learn my mannerisms. If I change, my eyes will be different and my voice should be distorted. If that happens, keep yourself alive. The best person to help you would be Neku. I don't think Agent could beat him. Keep your eyes peeled, ok?" Shiki wasn't too worried, "I'll be fine. Let's go in."

Weiss held up a hand and kept looking at the building, "Second I'm scanning the building... I was giving the ability to observe noise, players and reapers. So... even if a wall is in the way..." Weiss pinpointed the reaper, "She's in there. Koneko is capable of going into an animal form. She's a strong reaper... I'm surprised I haven't noticed her before." Shiki thought that trick was cool, "You can scan through buildings? That'll be pretty handy." Weiss confessed, "Honestly you're the first person I told I could do this... half the time I used this trick I couldn't remember I did. Agent was making me observe things at all times. But keep your guard up, there's been planted noise at one spot. It's a huge mass of noise in one single location, it's too think to tell the exact spot, but there's definitely a lot of noise in there." Shiki went in and motioned him to follow. "Let's go before she leaves." Weiss agreed.

Inside the building was pretty dark with one lit up spot. It looked like there were aisles of stuffed animals. Each one of the stuffed animals had a noise trapped inside them. "This is creepy." Shiki said looking at a stuffed animal, "Don't touch it, noise will attack you if you touch any of these dolls." Shiki didn't need to be told twice, she moved toward the one lit room in the warehouse. Koneko called out from the darkness, "You got here pretty fast. I didn't get to nap for very long... meanies." Shiki shouted in the direction she thought the voice came from, "Where's Mr. Mew?" Koneko went ahead and told her, "On the table over there... but... careful... if you pick the wrong Mr. Mew... you'll end up fighting A LOT of noise. Let's see how good you are at picking out your Mr. Mew from the replicas." On the table were a number of Mr. Mews. They were littered everywhere. Avoiding the dolls was difficult, one had to watch their step. But Shiki fearlessly walked towards the table and looked at the number of Mr. Mews.

Without a seconds hesitation she grabbed a doll out of the litter. "This one is Mr. Mew. I can easily tell them apart, I made Mr. Mew." Koneko did a slow clap. Then hopped down where they could see her. "Well... about that... I said if you picked the wrong doll... you'd have to fight a LOT of noise." Shiki blinked a few times, "And?" Koneko giggled, "The thing is... I put the trap in the real Mr. Mew. Good luck!" Koneko jumped away before either of them could grab her. Weiss turned to note Mr. Mew's eyes change. The doll started growing and fusing with all the other Mr. Mew dolls. It was possessed by a massive amount of noise. Weiss gulped and told Shiki, "Nothing is ever easy is it?"

XXX

The noise today were strong, they all were. Uzuki and Kariya noted this fact with much displeasure. "Why is it that we never get the easy job?" Kariya complained as he wandered through the streets looking for players aimlessly. Uzuki found that comment mildly irritating. "Kariya… we ARE doing the easy job." Kariya didn't agree at all, "No no, I mean why are we still working? I should have had my day off by now and all the work is making me tense." He clearly wasn't even the slightest bit tense or upset. Uzuki didn't even know if he was complaining due to the way he spoke, "Well… think of it as overtime. We'll get more props with the higher ups if we help them out in their time of need." Kariya countered with a glazed look of depression, "But if I get promoted again… I'll be sniped at by every player and reaper trying to make a name for themselves… that'd be such a pain."

Uzuki knew full well he was full of crap, "Listen… it's not like any of that matters now… there's too much at risk. This city could be destroyed and us with it. We need to do everything we can to control the noise flow so when this whole thing blows over I get my promotion." Kariya looked up at the noise symbol in the sky and muttered, "You can have my job…" Uzuki hit him on the head, "This is no time for you getting in a lazy slump! We gotta find these players and fast! If we find them we get a 'out of the exploding city free card' from Joshua." Kariya rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me you actually believe that…" Uzuki shrugged and sat on a bench, "I'm a desperate woman when I hear I'm going to die… what can I say?" Kariya took a seat next to her and looked up at the sky, "I think I am too… desperate that is. In my own little way… I think I'm dreading what's going to happen to this place. Think I'm going to miss it. At the same time… don't think this city is worth dying for. The Composer is full of bull… he couldn't get us out of here…"

At that moment both reapers heads shot up to see a suited man looking at them both through his dark shades. Charon seemed to appear out of nowhere. It wasn't even the fact he teleported, it was pure movement. "There is indeed a way out of this city for you… Reapers are bound to their city, but what if you were bound elsewhere?" Kariya waved his hand calmly at him, "I'm not exactly interested in going hellward bound. Forgive the pun… but I make it a point not to associate with Satanic spawn." Charon told them something, "Before the Angels destroy a city… they first call all the noise they can… They summon a mass of negative emotion that's strong enough to cause most of the noise in Japan to answer the call. It is during this time when the noise are at the most dense, the angels will destroy Shibuya's underground. This is because if they are going to destroy a human city… they would want to destroy as many noise as possible. Negative energy attracts noise, so before Shibuya is destroyed there should be a great negative emotion across the whole city."

Kariya went ahead and asked, "And what negative force would they use to draw so many noise?" Charon pushed up his glasses and looked at the ground, "We demons have far more negative energy than the noise could ever imagine. Before the city is destroyed… we demons will call the noise here with enough negative energy to kill everyone in the Underground. If you think there is a way to survive the purge of this city you are wrong. The angels will destroy the noise that come along with Shibuya… and the world will be better for it." Uzuki pointed out the obvious, "So… the the angels go through with their regular plan… none of us will survive." Charon turned his back to them, "Your Composer lied if he offered a way to escape it… What did he offer you?" Kariya twirled his lollipop and confessed, "He wanted us to make sure Shiki Misaki survived this week's game. If we did… we'd live through the city exploding. Joshua tends to keep his word, but then… usually our lives aren't on the line."

Charon found that interesting, "Shiki Misaki… she's played the game before has she not?" Kariya nodded, "Yup… apparently Joshua thinks that as long as she lives Shibuya will be spared… probably something to do with the new Composer." Charon accidently let his eyes glow with surprise, "New Composer?" Kariya shrugged, "Guess you wouldn't know but… Neku Sakaraba is Composer." Charon crossed both arms and assessed the situation, "Then perhaps there is some merit to what your Composer says.. . let us hope that my power is not necessary. Let us further hope that your Composer's plan goes unhindered by my superiors." Uzuki tried to clarify, "You mean that… Agent? Er… Weiss." Charon nodded, "Weiss is merely a construct. He should not be moving on his own… Without Agent guiding him, he is nothing more than a corpse waiting to die." Charon paused a moment and realized something, "But if a construct were to act on its own… what would such a thing do?"

Kariya looked at his phone and frowned, "Probably partner with Shiki Misaki…" Charon found the very idea absurd, "A construct not only surviving, but having a will of its own? I find that difficult to think possible, let alone believe." Kariya turned his phone around to reveal an announcement from the Composer. _All reapers are to erase all possible noise._ _All player hunts or attacking of players will result in severe punishment."_ Kariya also had several pictures texted to him of Weiss and Shiki. "Looks like he's with Shiki." Charon frowned, "Who took and sent those pictures?" Kariya shrugged and bit his lollipop, "No clue." Charon looked up and wondered how much the Composer had planned. The Composer wouldn't have anything to gain from a game. Neku becoming Composer could perhaps be a fruitful experience, but this game was far too risky. Weiss moving on his own was certainly beyond Agent, Hanekoma or anyone's power. It was too convenient to be an anomaly. But the Composer couldn't be involved either… "Something is amiss… Joshua and Agent were the only battling parties… but I'm beginning to think there is another influence."

Uzuki took a fair guess, "That'd be someone working with them." Charon took off his glasses and put on his red ones as he walked away, "No… Something that is interested in Joshua's success…" Kariya didn't like the sound of that, "The noise have been awfully tame… they could have killed all the players and reapers a long time ago…" Charon agreed, "I think we're all being played… by the noise. If the clash should happen… the noise would certainly be spared the wrath of the Angel plane." Kariya started walking in another direction, "If the noise are capable of planning something like this…" Charon summed it up simply, "Then it is their wish for the clash to begin and they've been holding back… They won't hold back for long. Be on your guard and move along."

XXX

A noise version of Mr. Mew… that wasn't expected. Weiss and Shiki were the type to expect weird things, especially in Shibuya, but an angry giant Mr. Mew definitely wasn't something they saw coming. "What did you do to Mr. Mew?" Shiki shouted at Koneko and didn't get so much as a wave farewell. "Looks like the reaper added a bunch of noise to make some sort of… Evil Mr. Mew" The giant Mr. Mew punched the floor and sent a shockwave of energy. Its eyes glew red and started firing laser blasts everywhere. The words that came out of its mouth was, "Piggy crush!" He said as he launched a raging tackle which Weiss and Shiki dodged. "Piggy smash!" It said with both arms raised to completely as he suggested… smash her. Weiss decided the best choice of options was to grab Shiki and zip by in another direction. "You won't like Piggy when he's angry!" Mr. Mew grew in size and attack power.

Weiss noted, "The reapers put something in the doll that attracted ridiculous amounts of noise. We're going to have to fight Mr. Mew. "Me Piggy!" The doll attacked again and again. The lasers in its eyes began to rampantly fire again and again. Weiss managed to hit it with a number of shockwaves but it was tougher than it looked. "Piggy destroy!" It shouted and Shiki almost had an aneurism, "Neku! Where are you and how did you make him do this?" Despite the fact he had no hand in this whatsoever. In fact, by all regards the true culprit was actually Kotori. But then… no one suspected Kotori was capable of coming up with sick jokes like her son.

XXX

"AAAHCHOO!" Neku had no earthly idea what made him sneeze like that. He looked to the sky to see that looming symbol in the sky. He scanned an area of noise, they were dense for sure. But he intended to slaughter them all. "Have all the players and reapers attack the noise." He ordered a number of reapers to deal with the noise as well as they were able. There were new noise running around. Noise that commanded other noise, "Perfect noise… is that what they're called?" Neku was strong to begin with and now with his power as composer, there wasn't anyone in the city who could put up a fight against him. It still sickened him to think that it was hopeless. It didn't matter how many noise he destroyed, it didn't even phase the noise. More and more were coming. The best he could do was keep them to a low. With any Luck, Sho was having an easier time making sure Shiki lived. It has hard to persuade him, but there were ways. It seemed that noise were being created as fast as they could kill them.

"There's little doubt Joshua didn't try this method… erasing the noise doesn't seem to be enough… they're coming from a source." The reaper next to him questioned, "Umm… Composer? Is there a way you could find out where the heart of the noise is?" To all the other reapers, Neku took the shape of Joshua's Composer form. They couldn't tell the difference, only people who knew Neku could see him for what he really was. For convenience sake, Neku didn't tell all the reapers he was different from the Composer they knew. They didn't all need to know. Someone approached from behind, Beat and Rhyme. "Neku!" Beat was the first to arrive, "Yo man! Where the hell have you been?" Neku was about to answer when Beat punched him in the teeth, "I wasn't done talking!" Neku listened to Beat go on, "Rhyme and I are your friends… you wanted to save our asses, right? You wanted to make sure we lived while you took all the danger, right?"

Neku looked stunned as Beat went on, "Well forget it! Cuss you know what friends do? Friends fight together and won't let another friend die. You're lyin' to yourself when you said you gave up on Shibuya, here you are still fightin!" Rhyme arrived in time to pull Beat off of Neku. "Neku… what's happening." Neku told them both while he lay there on the ground, "Joshua killed Shiki… Then he told me to kill him… or she wouldn't be resurrected. Only a Composer can resurrect players at the end of a game…" Rhyme gasped and Beat looked fierce. "So you killed him?" Neku nodded at that and smirked, "Slowly… hope he felt in the afterlife." Rhyme sweated, "That seems excessively cruel…" Beat disagreed, "Had it coming… if someone killed my sister I'd have done the same. What do you need, man? You're fighting the noise, right? How can we help?"

Neku didn't know how they could help. Killing the noise seemed useless, maybe it was always useless. "There's a place where the noise are spawning… we need to find it and destroy it." Beat punched his hand and walked in the direction of the noise, "Destroyin stuff is what I'm good at… just tell me where to look." Rhyme grimaced, "But umm… if Joshua didn't destroy it… that would mean he was looking for a way of purging the city of noise. Wouldn't that mean… we don't have a way of finding or destroying it?" Neku nodded, "That was my thinking, if it were so easy as finding and destroying it, Joshua would have found a way of doing this before it got so bad. As Composer he had godlike power… if he and Hanekoma working for years couldn't find a way… then we won't in a week." Rhyme protested, "We still have to try, Joshua is doing something in the Angel plane. Maybe he's going to give us the chance we need. With you as Composer you should be able to finish what he started. I don't think you could be erased with the power you have… you're near immortal."

Their conversation was interrupted by a suited demon. "Shibuya is not indestructible and neither are you… Composer Neku." The demon took heavy steps and everyone around him took a defensive position, "Hanekoma's death… aggrieved me. He was an angel even we demons could admire…" Neku stayed defensive, "His death changed a lot of things… but what business do you have here?" Charon explained as he walked with hands hidden in his pockets, "No business… in fact it is against my nature to help you now… but I must tell you… for his sake." The others seemed to let their guard down for a moment, "The source of the noise is what angels refer to as the 'heart of Shibuya'. It is the essence of the city itself… the city's essence has been polluted and like a cancer the noise choke the life out of it." He pointed at the sky and took a look, "The noise are so ingrained in this city… that you cannot destroy one and not the other… so the angels aim to destroy both."

Rhyme protested, "But that would-" Charon cut her off, "I assure you they do not care. If Shibuya is not destroyed other places will suffer… but now another option has been presented. One that Joshua has brought forward to the attention of our Director. Neku was all ears, "And that is." Charon walked closer to them all and in a hushed manner told them, "The Clash." No one repeated the word, "It is the ultimate game and the ultimate battle. If you win… you get your city… if you lose… you lose Japan. Your opponent in the game would be the noise themselves. If you think they've seen the strongest noise, you're wrong. The strongest noise can think and plan. You'll be playing a game against them and it's a game that's never been won by humans. The director's power will be needed to start the game. Power Joshua now seeks. The other angels will try to stop this game from happening… they know how strong the noise are."

Neku countered, "But they don't know how strong we are." Charon continued to summarize the plot of the past events, "So they sent an angel to observe. The Agent is one who observed this place for years. His opinion would be highly valued, but even so it's still full of bias." Neku frowned, "So from the start he was afraid of playing the game with the noise… why send someone bias to be the judge? And if he was the judge, why was he working so hard to convince everyone that we couldn't win the game?" Charon stopped that logic there, "He was not the judge… the judge is the Director and he has left the choice up to his proxy. If his proxy chooses to fight the noise, then Shibuya will face the noise. If his proxy chooses to destroy Shibuya… then it shall be destroyed."

Beat held up a fist, "Well who's the proxy?" Charon looked at Beat and made him feel afraid for some reason, "None shall know until the Director asks him. By law… it cannot be the Composer or Producer. He may choose angel or human. The Director will ask him this week. As for me… I await my orders… if the city is chosen to be destroyed… then I shall be the one to destroy it." Rhyme was impressed, "You can do that?" Charon corrected her, "The Director and the Composer can. All I shall do is summon all the noise in Japan to this spot… Only demons have the negative energy necessary to call all the noise in Japan to this place." Neku thought it seemed logical, "Well if the angels were going to destroy Shibuya… they may as well kill all the noise in Japan in one shot." Charon told them, "People will perish, but the die is cast." Neku gave Charon one more fair question before the demon left, "Why are you telling us this?" Charon told them, "I thought Hanekoma would have wanted you to know… Also if I am ordered by the angels to kill one of you… then you shall be killed. My desires are irrelevant."

In truth, Charon was going to be punished for telling them as much as he did. The demon didn't care at the moment, he felt a sense of retribution was needed for making him attack and kill Hanekoma. Charon loved battle and enjoyed his job for the most part, but that… that sickened him. Sending reapers to hell was a simple task, but a Producer who had done nothing more than defend a human? No, it went against the very idea the angels stood for, preserving life. Why would they kill a Producer over preserving life as best he could? It baffled Charon, but then… Death was an illusion to them, Hanekoma was never alive in the same sense as humans. Hanekoma's true form was his angel form. Humans were short sighted and thought death was the end… however… "Death is a part of life. Humans fear and despise it. But the truth is death is neither bad nor good… it is an event that must happen. Be it a child or adult humans die. However… the angels preserved something far more sacred. Keeping the world holy and purging the negative emotion from the world was a difficult task which often required choices like this. If the angels destroyed the underground, they would lose something worth far more than their lives.

XXX

After wading through minutes of Noise. Luckily they weren't perfect noise, but they were a lot stronger noise than he had fought in the previous weeks. Shiki managed to hold her own and they battled noise after noise with a giant Mr. Mew attacking them. It had several attacks, but it wasn't dying. No matter how many noise they killed he'd just call more noise from more dolls. There were countless dolls in the warehouse. "Shiki we need to beat Mr. Mew! They won't stop coming until he's beat.

The fight went on and Mr. Mew wasn't the toughest opponent Weiss had, but he and Shiki were off balance and out of synch. "Shiki, use the other doll as best you can!" The girl struggled and made use of her little pig doll which she gave to Neku as a joke. It worked for now, but the problem wasn't that she was having trouble using another doll. She was having trouble using psyches at all. She was inexperienced, all of her memories of using her psyches were forfeit with her price. Weiss ultimately would be the one to destroy the giant cat. He zipped around it hacking and slashing with the pins that Agent left him. Mr. Mew kept attacking until Shiki came up to it and realized something. "Weiss… Mr. Mew isn't the target it's the noise in him. I think there's noise controlling it somehow." It didn't dawn on Weiss to look for noise within the giant Mr. Mew. Weiss stopped what he was doing and started scanning. Mr. Mew was full of noise. By scanning he pulled them out and Mr. Mew was no longer as fast or as strong. "Piggy strong!" Weiss easily destroyed the noise once they were outside Mr. Mew. "That worked!" Shiki tried hitting some more noise that Weiss scanned out, piece of cake. "It's working!"

The fight after this became easier and easier until all the noise were being siphoned out. "Piggy tired." Shiki got angrier every time he said piggy, "You're NOT!" Shiki hit him with a powerful strike. "A STUPID!" Another powerful strike, "PIG!" The last blow was a kick to the face that changed it back into a little doll. One could almost hear the sound of Tekken's "KO!" at the finishing blow. With the doll finally defeated the girl picked it up and smirked, "Alright! We caught the kitty!" Weiss smiled, "Yeah… one would think." Shiki took a good look at the doll, "Yup this is definitely my Mr. Mew. So…" Weiss took a closer look at his phone, "The kitty is nowhere near us…" Shiki flipped her phone open to see a blinking cat symbol on the other end of Shibuya. "This wasn't it?" Weiss found it odd, "It seems not…"

Shiki got mad, "But it was blinking here when we got here! It had to be Mr. Mew!" Weiss thought it was too, but then it dawned on him, "That girl… she was here when the phone told us to come here, right?" Shiki nodded, "Right." Weiss offered a suggestion, "So… maybe she has whatever it is we're looking for. If it's not Mr. Mew… then this locator should tell us where to go. Odds are it will be another trap. But… I think finding her is the key to solving the first task." Shiki gave it some thought and shrugged, "Well there's not much more options is there?" Weiss was happy to hear she agreed, "Right then we need to track her down now. Let's go."

XXX

Nanami stood atop a building and waited. Behind her Kotori spoke, "Tell me, girl. Why didn't you run away from Shibuya." Nanami held in her hand a number of seals, "I promised Hanekoma something... I gave Joshua a seal and I need to give Weiss these pins." Kotori found that odd, "That's all you're trying to do?" Nanami kept her tone serious, "No... I'm also going to help Shibuya. I'm going to join Neku in his fight against the noise, but I wanted to see where you stood on this." Kotori looked at the sky, "I would help fight the noise, but... there's something I need to do first." Nanami started to plea with Kotori, "Please put an end to this game... it's pointless." Kotori didn't think it was pointless and she intended to see the game through, "I will not end this game... there's no power in the universe that's going to stop me from getting my price back. I won't stop fighting and I won't stop this game... I don't have a choice. If that's all you wanted to say then we're done here." Nanami sighed and started to walk away, "I don't know how you intend to avoid Neku or those who aid him... but stay alive." Kotori smirked as Nanami left, "My price... protects me from him... and anyone he ordered to find me. I can't interact with my son in any way. Until I get my price back." It was game on.

XXX

Charon walked alone down the street when his phone vibrated. After the press of a button the demon answered the phone. "Yes?" The voice on the other end was familiar, "I have a special assignment for you." Charon listened as the voice went on, "I double checked the rules… and it turns out that you win the game and are revived… you're not allowed to play the game again." That sounded odd to begin with. "That sounds more like a decision that could be left up to the Composer." The other end laughed, "Are you questioning the rules of the game." Charon answered quickly, "No." Agent chuckled, "I thought not. So as it turns out… Since Shiki was revived once by Joshua… she should not be playing the game for her life again. Attempting to be revived twice is against the rules." Charon reminded him, "I shall speak freely. I know what you're doing… this isn't approved by the Director or the Composer. You're abusing your authority if you order me to kill someone over a matter as minor as this. If you order me to erase… I shall erase… but remember there are consequences to your actions."

Agent didn't sound like he cared, "I'm well aware, but Shibuya must not engage the noise in the Clash. If Shiki Misaki is erased, Joshua's plan will fail. That's why I did some digging." Charon didn't like where this was going, but he knew where it would end, "Give the order you want to give." Agent gave a defeated sigh and told the demon, "It's not like you to talk back to me… remember your place demon. Remember who you work for. Now… your orders. Charon, under my authority I order you to erase Shiki Misaki."

XXX

End Day 1

[Well that was a long chapter, but those are best am I right? Yes, this is the final week and yes you should start to see the end of the story heading on the way. All the pieces are in place and in 6 more days the story will be complete. I might add an extra day for humor. But it would be full of jokes rather than plot.

As things turned out... I'm a hopeless addict for WoW at the moment and if anyone cares I'm giving out my realid as a means for you other WoW addicts to bother me to write more. Honestly I need more people to bother me to write more. I'm good at making stories... I should be doing it more... but I don't . Cuss I'm lazy. But if you poke lazy people enough they eventually do what you want. WoW info: Garador on the server Executus. Realid: jja5905(at symbol)tx(dot)rr(dot)com.

(I wish I could just give you the email...)

As for now I'm once again asking for reviews. Tell how I did and of course I'll be reading them. I always read them, because I have what some people may call: no life. Well... that or an obsessive need to be told good job. Probably the second one. At any rate please review and if you don't I'll come to your house and beat with a giraffe. I swing it by the neck.]

0er0 out


	16. Week Three, Day Two: The Reapers

(So it's been a while since my last update. Currently I'm trying out changing my writing style/ spacing style. Do tell me how you like it. It's less comfortable for me, but I think it should be easier to read now.

The next thing I'd like to address is a reminder that a lot happens in every chapter I write. At this point we're literally hitting the thickest point of the chaos. The clash is about to begin and the noise are ready to move.

Read on and please review. I'll be editing this at another date. Point out any pros/cons you see: plot or otherwise.)

The World Ends With You Too

The Final Week: Day 2

The Reapers

0er0

Kotori kept her arms crossed and her eyes below. "It looks like they're still sleeping." Her eyes were an unhealthy mix of anger and remorse. The game had to go on, she had to play fair and she had to win. Joshua wasn't clear on what it would take to get her price back. Technically all she had to do was try and try her hardest. But the issue was this: she couldn't try her hardest. Nanami waited below for both players to wake up from their game. Her arms were folded and her she seemed to have the same expression on her face as Kotori. Waiting... that's all anyone seemed to do anymore and with the waiting was a silence most foul. Kotori hated silence before missions, it made her sick to know there was a strong chance someone was to be erased.

"Are you worried about them." Said the voice of a girl behind Kotori. It was Koneko, the one who stole Mr. Mew. She still wore a traditional japanese school uniform and next to her was her partner in crime: Kitsune. Kitsune wore the same uniform, but her hair was an odd mixture of red and white. Koneko and Kitsune were the only assistance Kotori could count on at the current time. Perhaps if it were another time, she could have counted on a legion of reapers... or the Conductor. She swore at the thought of having to fight him. He was strong and worse he was smart. If he were to put his full focus on finding and killing her, she'd stand little chance.

Kotori shook away the imagination and turned to her support members, "Koneko, keep your eyes open and your senses sharp. Our opponent is more than these two players."

Kitsune asked her in a soft feminine voice making sure to start her sentences with uncertainty, "Ano... are these players very strong? Are you worried about them?"

Koneko chirped happily and her head cocked in the other direction, "Kotori is never worried! She's the smartest reaper there is! We'll beat these players! We'll beat them no problem!" Koneko always acted more aggressive around Kitsune.

The redhead studied her elbow and rubbed it nervously, "Ano... I don't think we should get overconfident Koneko... you get clumsy when you're overconfident..." Her voice sounded like a soft whine. Kotori let out a sigh before turning around.

When she turned around both girls stood in attention, "Don't lose focus. You're up against a winner of a previous game and bride to the Composer. She'd be sickeningly powerful if she were to reach her full potential once again."

Koneko wasn't too worried, "But she's weak now. Really weak, I mean... Kitsune could beat her."

Kitsune sniffed as if she wanted to cry. The timid girl muttered, "Ano... You don't really think I'm weak, do you?"

Kotori didn't give Koneko a chance to answer, "The other... the white haired boy... is a creation of the angels. He's definitely not as strong as Neku... but he may be as strong as Neku back then..." Koneko laughed, "That guy? He's not as strong as Neku was, no way."

The grown woman told the younger girl, "He has potential to be as strong as Neku. They both have unspeakable skill with psyches. However this... Weiss... may have had most of his combat abilities implanted in him. The angels most likely granted him memory of the game rules as well... Still... His soul is in disarray. He's mentally unsure of himself or his purpose at the moment. Right now... I'd say he's nicely matched with Shiki. Shiki has a talent for creating and mending bonds. If she makes a bond with Weiss and quieted his soul. His Creativity and Imagination could read unmanageable levels for us. If both of them reached the limits of their power defeating them in combat would be impossible."

Kitsune seemed to shake, "Ano... do you really think we should be fighting them?"

Kotori answered honestly, "At this state, Koneko is correct. They couldn't beat either of you... But that boy managed to survive a battle with Sho Minamimoto. Someone I wouldn't face in a group of any size. It's possible Weiss had a bond with his former partner, but that bond won't give him strength here. Stay alert. Begin the mission." She perfectly timed turning her head away with her two assistants vanishing. "I'll be watching."

Weiss woke up gasping for air. He felt his chest and groaned. It felt like he was having a heart attack. His vision was blurry, but he thought he saw something in his sleep. He saw Hanekoma dying and he saw Thanatos dying. After a few gasps and wiping the sweat off of his face he told himself out loud, "They wanted to die... nothing more... It's not my fault..." He walked over a nearby dumpster and leaned his hand on it, "It's not my fault... I wasn't the one who gave Charon the order. I wasn't the one who killed Thanatos... It wasn't me... It wasn't me." He repeated himself before opening his eyes to see Nanami standing in front of him.

"Was it you when you made a pact with me?" She asked him somewhat sad to see him in the messy state he was in.

Weiss gulped and looked at her nervously, she wasn't judging him, but it felt like she was, "I..." He tried to answer but couldn't.

Nanami asked him another question, "Was it you who made me your price?" Weiss still didn't know but answered anyway, "I think it was."

Nanami told him the truth, "For a guy who likes to use logic a lot... you can't even figure out yourself, can you?"

Weiss chuckled at the attitude, "I guess not. What if it was me?"

Nanami came closer and asked him the real question, "Was it you... on the third day... who went outside to save me from the noise? Someone as logical as you could have found another partner in the cafe. You threw away the mission and came out to save my life... Was that you?"

Weiss remembered it really well. The memory seemed pretty now even though it was maddening at the time. He remembered fighting the noise and surviving Joe Hawkeye. "That... that was me."

Nanami leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Then you're you. The angel controlling you may have manipulated you... he may have been pushing you do his bidding... but you were the one who chose to run out. It wasn't him. You and I both know you're different from him."

Weiss took a few steps away from her and rubbed his forehead, "You're so sure... I almost believed it." Weiss turned and started rambling off facts like the good ole days, "I'm not human Nanami. I never was. I'm six years old and I have a bunch of implanted memories. The only reason I was made was because the angel controlling me couldn't directly feel what humans feel... He couldn't stand staying in a human body the whole time... so that's why I was made. I'd be his body when he needed one. The rest of me is a personality made up... I'm fake and now that he's gone. I don't even have a purpose!" Weiss yelled at the end then composed himself, "It kills me to think... that... everything I experienced wasn't real. But that's the truth, I'm not human... and the only thing left for me to do is..."

Nanami could use logic too, "Keep living. You kept living and you tried to save Shiki. You say you aren't human, but you're feeling anger and sadness. That sounds human enough to me. You feel guilty for what happened and you're telling me what you felt was fake? No, I don't think it was fake. I think all the emotions you felt were very real. The angel didn't feel them, but you could. How could he feel things only humans can experience? Your story may have started with him, but look at yourself! You get to decide what happens now. You're in control of yourself and it's up to you to save Shiki. Now let me ask you something, do you think you aren't human?" Nanami stared him down as he looked at the floor hoping he could accept that.

His head went up and told her flatly, "I'm sorry Nanami, I'm not human. I wish I was..." Nanami's face tensed a moment before she turned away. "Hanekoma asked me to give you these... Use them well." Her voice sounded hurt. "I'm going to keep living my life, Weiss. Come find me when you decide to start living yours." She put three pins in his hand and left.

XXX

Beat and Rhyme were kicking ass. As far as Beat was concerned, that was his favorite sport. "Rhyme! Hit it!" Rhyme gave her bell trinket a loud ring as a sonic boom flooded through the streets and caused every noise that heard it to vibrate and cry out in pain.

"Echo pulse!" Rhyme launched a ring of sound which bounced off of every wall and noise. When it came into contact with a vibrating noise the attack would multiply. Ultimately it ended with nothing but bouncing gold rings flooding the streets. There were no noise left. With a satisfied smirk she told Beat, "I think the little ones are dead."

Beat was proud of his sister, she was the best at killing noise on a massive scale. Granted he was always better at taking out the stronger single target noise, but he had to say they made a good team. Beat danced around a stronger noise on his skateboard smacking it with a mix of board and energy. "This big one is definitely... DEAD!" The noise was finished off with a skateboard to the face. Then with a frown he could see noise spawning as quickly as they killed them. "You've got to be kidding me."

Neku walked up behind his friend, "Afraid not... We're erasing them as fast as we can. In fact, we're erasing them faster than the negative energy around the city can regenerate them. But the noise have an overstock great enough to kill us all. It's only a matter of time before they go all out on us... I wonder why they haven't."

Beat slapped his buddy's back painfully, "It's alright man, even if they go all out. We've got this beat."

Rhyme wasn't so sure about all that, so she decided to change the subject, "Is Shiki alright?" It was clear she hadn't heard the news. Neither did Beat for that matter. The look on his face asked the same question.

Neku bent his head where his hair blocked the view of his eyes, "Shiki's safe." That's all he wanted to tell them. But that of course wasn't going to satisfy them, "She's playing the game. Joshua has set it up where I can't stop it. The game master is completely out of my power. I can't touch her... and there's no way to end this game early. Now all that can be done is combat the noise and help Shiki by keeping the noise to minimum. As Composer I find myself capable of much more than I thought. I can keep an eye on Shiki from here. I feel as if I could find anything in the city if I were looking."

Beat asked a fair question, "Can we go help Shiki with her mission? We can do that, yo."

Rhyme knew better, "No... I don't think we can. They weren't given normal missions were they?"

Neku went on to show his phone. Both of his friends took a look at it, "That's... unusual." Rhyme said and Beat scratched his head.

They weren't missions at all. The mission was completing three tasks. Tasks which didn't make sense. "We can help them most by clearing the field of noise. We can't interfere directly... at least we can't. Joshua put something in place that prevents anyone in relation with me to interfere. Perhaps the reapers could help... but I can't order them to do it. Anyone doing anything on my behalf can't assist in this mission."

Beat crossed his arms and spit at the floor. "I don't like this crap. I feel like we're sitting on the sidelines, yo. This sucks!"

Neku turned his head to see Nanami running up to the trio in a huff. "Nanami?... What are you doing here?" Nanami kept huffing and the polluted air didn't make things go any faster.

Finally the girl told them, "Shiki! She's going to need your help! We've got a big problem!" Nanami started to frantically tried to explain the situation, "OK! So Hanekoma and Joshua are in the angel plane. So is the angel who controlled Weiss. All of them are stuck there right now."

Rhyme cocked her head and thought about it, "Oh, so is that how it works? They're in the angel plane... wait... how did Joshua end up there?"

Neku cut her off, "That's not important, tell us what the problem is."

Nanami pointed out one more fact, "That angel that commanded Weiss is in the Angel plane. Meaning he can't control Weiss right now... but he's probably still able to send orders to any of his subordinates."

Beat wanted her to get to the point, "And why is that a problem?... he's in the angel plane he don't matter."

Nanami answered quickly, "If he catches wind that this game is going on. Which he probably will. He's going to do everything in his power to put an end to it. If the game ends early, the angels are going nuke the city. He wants that. Hanekoma is still texting me somehow. I can't text back, but he told me that he and Joshua need the game to continue for now. They only need a few days, but Agent isn't going to let that happen."

Neku calmed her down, "Listen, anything they send would be interfering with the game. I could stop them... in fact it's my job to stop anyone from ending the game early. I don't think you need to be worried about that angel."

Nanami showed Neku the latest text message, _**Keep an eye on Charon**_.

XXX

Charon walked slowly. Not really in any particular hurry to get the job done. Now was a good time. It was ideal for him to strike before they should awaken their full power. "It seems the noise are going to make their move as well." Charon said as countless noise appeared before him. The noise never dared attack him before. "I see... You noise do not want Shiki to be erased. That would end the game wouldn't it? If the game ends early, the angels will rain destruction down upon this unholy city. So for you own survival... you're going to bar my path?"

The snarling noise all tried to attack him at once. All of them jumping straight into their demise. "A meaningless effort. Lesser noise such as you stand no chance against even a fraction of my power. I will admit, you slow my progress." The demon pushed his glasses up and the red tint hid the glow behind his eyes. "Did you know?... Angels don't like fightning noise. When noise die it creates a pollution of negative energy. This negative energy is originally created by humans... angels are weakened by this negative energy. Making angels hesitant to erase you." A flux of energy and the noise were obliterated by a powerful explosion. "Demons... feed off of this energy. We reside in the lowest of planes where the noise are impossibly strong. As we come up to a higher plane, we weaken with lower density of negative energy. I was defeated by the angels... because I was foolish enough to challenge one in the angel plane."

More noise attacked him and died just as quickly. "I became a slave to the angels... in exchange for my obedience they offered me power beyond imagining. I as Security... draw from their power as well as the negative energy at my disposal. I was the strongest demon... Now I am their most powerful asset. What chance do you noise have? What hope is there for you? No... I suppose it doesn't matter what happens to Shibuya. I do not care if you descend this city into madness. I will thrive in the madness as a demon. If the city is saved... I will live in order as an angel's servant. It matters not what becomes of this place... all that matters is that obey. I am ordered to erase Shiki Misaki. Why do you noise continue to bar my path?... No, you cannot bar my path. You cannot even bar my path." He kept walking and skillfully obliterating all noise that came near him. He was toying with them.

Charon fought for real with his wings out. It had been sooo long since he had to fight at full strength. Hanekoma forced him to go full power... but it was only for an instant. That instant was the worst moment of his life. He killed the very angel that spared his life. Hanekoma was the one that redeemed him, Hanekoma... the only angel he ever respected. The rest were pitiful and haughty. Hanekoma wasn't afraid to live in a lower plane. Hanekoma wasn't afraid of the noise. "The other angels hide in their precious light... They hide behind their precious Director. It seems shameful that they would turn against their own for a law's sake. Even for a demon I find that repulsive."

The demon turned a corner to see Shiki walking down the street with her partner. "That boy... he's moving on his own... Why?" The noise dispersed around him leaving him a clear path to chase them down. He didn't chase, he walked. "The noise... what are they playing at. Giving up now?" Charon took a look around him, they all left. Clearly he missed something. Charon sensed something, something moving his direction fast. "Ah... now I see."

Neku flashed by Charon with a streak of black fire. "Composer Neku. I have been given orders to erase Shiki Misaki. Do you intend to stand in my way?" The demon almost sounded hopeful he would. Neku responded by forming a barrier around himself and ramming into Charon. Charon held him back with both hands pushing against his barrier. Neku was glowing with power similar to Joshua, but he wasn't limited to the color white. There was a rainbow spectrum of colors. Neku glared at him and growled, "I'm not going to let you touch her." Charon jumped back and gave his smoking gloves a shake. "Against a Composer... I should go straight to full power to defeat you. Anything else would be a complete waste of time. Even if I were to summon my fallen noise, you could defeat them without too much difficulty. In short, using anything other than my full power could make a battle between us take hours..." The demon smirked knowing that the Composer would take a hint, "Which is why... I'll fight you as long as it takes.! Keep me here as long as you can."

With the summoning of the ultimate noise Neku caught his gambit. Charon didn't care for his master's orders. He was going to fight Neku at that spot for as long as it took. Neku was going to make it take a long time too. Although even he couldn't toy with those Fallen Noise. He'd need to be alert the whole time. This battle was going to last for hours and possibly days. "I'm fine with a warm up." Neku said as Charon stayed safely behind a shelled wall.

"Face the Fallen."

XXX

When Shiki originally woke up she noticed that Weiss was a little gloomy. Unfortunately she hadn't known him long enough to know that wasn't normal. In truth, she herself was a little gloomy, she just died and apparently had years of her life stolen away. "Ready to get to the mission?" The girl asked a little timid. She was still getting used to the fact her body was different.

Weiss turned his head slightly and asked her a fair question, "Yeah, just one question before we start... Do I seem human to you?"

Shiki found the question downright odd, "Well... I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer that."

Weiss insisted this time, "Just humor me. Do I act like a human does? Am I different?"

Shiki frowned and wondered how best to answer, "You're definitely different... but..."

The other words were interrupted by a massive power spike. Shiki was an amateur to sensing power, but she could sense this. "Something is happening over there..." The girl was a little shaken, but she didn't panic.

Weiss was more than shaken, he WAS panicked. "Charon? Why is he fighting the Composer?" His eyes went every which direction as he tried to think of the reason. After a moment of thought his head turned to see Shiki. _If Neku is getting in Charon's way... That would mean something Neku wants to protect is in danger... but what reason would Charon have to hurt something Neku cared about?..._ It hit him, "The angel that was controlling me earlier wants to erase you."

Shiki went from worried to wide eyed shock, "Erase me? Why?"

Weiss might have spoken if someone else nearby didn't cut him off, "Why indeed?" The voice sounded familiar. Very familiar. The white haired male turned to see Okami behind him.

Okami looked different, very different. There were strange markings on his body and a noise symbol on the back of his neck. The expression on his face is what really threw it off, he looked calm. Okami never looked calm. What was weirder was his voice was different. Not so much the voice but the tone, "Are you both alright?" He asked with his attention fixated on Neku and Charon. "I'm here to help you both in any way I can. Neku has declared this game void and yet it seems the current GM went rogue."

Weiss had no idea what to think of this, "You... weren't you defeated by Kotori? What are those markings on your body?" For some reason he knew Kotori defeated him.

Okami didn't even look annoyed, "Oh, an understandable question I suppose. You see they are a side effect to mastering the Perfect Noise. It's similar to Sho Minamimoto, he uses the Taboo. We both now have markings on our bodies accordingly. Your eyes have been modified to see on multiple planes have they not? You should see that the noise and I are very much in harmony now. As for your question about Kotori, I'm afraid I was never defeated by her."

Weiss was troubled about a number of things. The first was his tone of voice and word choice didn't match Okami's at all. The next question was how did he know that Weiss could see on multiple planes? Okami shouldn't have noticed that... What did he mean about in harmony with the noise? Weiss could see noise in him. One unspeakably powerful noise... it was as strong as the Conductor. How did he get a noise that powerful in him?... And he definitely got his rear handed to him by Kotori. Yet... he didn't seem to be lying. "How can you help us?"

Okami was glad he asked, "I wanted to help you with your mission. Whatever it may be, I wanted to see if I could be of assistance. Could you start by telling me what you know about the GM and why Neku can't deal with it himself?"

Shiki spoke first, "The game master is a woman named Kotori. She gave us three tasks to complete before the fourth day. At the end of the fourth day the game will come to an end."

Okami gave it some thought, "Well if Kotori is the game master... that must mean she has some motive. One worth more than her life if she's willing to betray the reapers. It's clear though... that she herself hopes you will not be erased... but has been forced into this by the former Composer."

Weiss found this version of Okami unusually perceptive. "Go on."

Okami went on to say, "Joshua is a sly one... it's likely he set this up in advance. He has something Kotori wants or needs. He forced her to do this. Yes... she's being forced. She wouldn't have made such a game if she weren't. What's more... if Neku can't stop her. What could be protecting her? What could be hiding her... I've gathered that anyone in relation to Neku cannot find her correct? Or even interfere with the game. Has Neku ever been able to interact with her?"

Weiss started to think about it, "Well no, I've never seen them interact... Wait! They have interacted. I don't know why I know this but... Neku spoke to her... she dismissed him and he quickly forgot her."

Okami smirked as if Weiss should have noticed sooner, "She has the same hair and eye color as he does, doesn't she?... Reapers can live for a long time, can't they? They don't age as normal humans do. Oh and she's been alive a while... hasn't she?"

Weiss started looking around and thinking about it, "Is she related to him?... No way."

Okami chuckled, "I think that mystery has come to an end. Now then it's clear to me what she's fighting for. It's something Joshua took from her. I believe it is a price. I'm not fully aware, nor can I be, what the terms of such a price are... but that's what she's fighting for. It would seem the white winged reaper has a secret... more than one no doubt."

Weiss stopped him a moment, "Okami... what happened to you after you were beaten by Kotori?."

'Okami' turned and looked up at the sky, "We've been ignored for far too long. I thought it appropriate to remind Shibuya that it's living on borrowed time. We are many sounds, we cry out in madness, we cry out for freedom. I've been chained down for far too long, I am the first of many to arrive, we are not the mindless creations you have seen thus, we are the true noise. I am the howl of the noise. You humans may think us the voice of madness, but it is we who shall bring this madness to an end." It was clear enough when a dark omen came crawling forward.

Weiss didn't get time to respond before he vanished into static. Shiki and Weiss were silent as it seemed that the noise had somehow infected Okami. Weiss chose his words carefully, "The noise... want us to win this game. I suppose that makes them the enemy of our enemy."

Shiki frowned, "That doesn't actually make them our friends."

Weiss went ahead and said, "It means we aren't the first ones on their hitlist. By why would they be helping us now?..." It didn't matter now, they had to continue with the mission. "We need to win this game and figure out all we can along the way." Both of their phones buzzed and took their next hint.

_**The kitty and fox are working against you. Watch out for traps.**_

The phones blinked to a map of Shibuya. The application they got in the previous day had a cat paw blinking and a fox tail blinking in a different location. Luckily they were both close. With a moment's hesitation Weiss gave it some thought, "We need to catch them. The noise may be helping us... be you need to survive. If the noise are helping us... that means they're afraid of something bad happening if we lose. If the noise are afraid of it... I don't want to risk losing."

Shiki agreed. "Yeah I don't think losing was ever an option for us. But... I do feel bad. I think that noise guy was right when he said that Kotori was forced into this. If she's the target of every reaper in the city... how is she going to survive this? I know she's supposed to be our enemy but... I can't help but think she isn't."

Weiss could console Shiki to some degree, "I think... we need to do our best to make everything work out in the end. That's all we can do. She's going to do her best to survive against whoever is after her... but we need to do our best to survive against whoever is after us."

Shiki agreed and told him, "By the way... to answer your question. You don't seem normal... but you're definitely human. That much I know."

Weiss gave an unsure smile and they both moved on. There were places to go and animals to catch.

XXX

Charon took note of every detail. This Composer held subtle grace in combat and perfectly matched it with unbearable power. To Charon, fighting was the ultimate form of communication. When locked in combat against an opponent were moments where all was revealed. Neku wasn't a coward, but he had fear of losing something precious. Neku had hatred boiled up in him, a hatred he unleashed in all of his psyches. This bottled up anger was something he never unleashed on his friends, it was something reserved for his enemies. All the frustration of his past and all of the unforgivable sins were placed on his enemy. With every noise, he struck them down with perfection. Charon watched through tinted glasses and asked him a simple question, "You fight to protect something... yes... this is the true nature of a human. Casting aside all sense of self when faced with the choice of protecting their loved on. I am a demon... yet even with my eyes I can see, that what you're truly afraid of is losing not your life but... another side of yourself?"

Neku grunted, this bastard was tough. There wasn't anyone close, Neku was naturally unconcerned if he'd win or not. He didn't have the option to lose, "My other side? Yeah... Shiki is my other half. I don't get people... never have... never will. But with Shiki... I feel like I can. With her around... I know that I can keep living this life. I can expand my world. I won't let it end with me."

Charon summoned another pair of fallen, "Desecrate the pure, boar." "Guard the gates to hell, dog." The two noise attacked Neku with every bit of their strength. Charon spoke while Neku took his time on killing them, "It is not your choice on when life ends. You humans have long forgotten your place. It is not your own power that has lasted you this long... without the aid of the angels we demons would have devoured all of humanity long ago. Your world is small... no matter how much you expand it you will never reach that of a demon. You have lived for twenty one years... I have existed beyond the count of millennium. Your life is so short, yet you value it so highly... You cling to it helplessly... but no matter the will and no matter the strength. The girl will die and you will die. Do you think being Composer will spare you the fate of death? No... you will not be spared. So why do you fight for something so meaningless as life? You were born helpless... you live helpless... and you shall die helpless." Charon avoided a stray bolt from Neku. The demon leaned his head to the right to avoid the black energy blast.

Neku stood against the demon with black energy surrounding him. "I was born helpless. That's right, all humans are. Even now I exist because of others... but that's not our weakness. It's our strength that we have the ability to stand together and bond. It is with those bonds that we survive impossible things. It's because of Shiki I'm fighting you... I may cling to life. But in life you can find things more important than living. I've found something more important than life... I've found Shiki. What do you fight for? Do you even have a reason to fight?" Neku avoided the dog's bite and the boar's lightning charge.

Charon smirked as he felt envious. "I see... so you fight for something eternal then? You may call it a bond or you may call it love, but I know full well what drives you. I envy that drive. My reasons for fighting are simple. I am fighting so that I may avoid being imprisoned in a lake of fire... Be it better to rule hell or serve it heaven? I fight for my choice. I serve. For angels and demons we are are given very few choices. Even one can have eternal consequences... but you... you pitiful creatures have countless choices. The result of which leads to endless possibilities. Perhaps this is why you have divine favor... perhaps things were too boring without you. Yes... that must be it. I fight you because I must. The choice is not mine. This body and name are my prison. I am but a shackled puppet... waiting for you to cut my strings. If you defeat all of the fallen noise... then perhaps I will show you my true nature. I'll drag you down... plane by plane, until you know that there is no terror in death. Perhaps then you'll know my reason to fight."

Although the fight went on and there wasn't much time for Neku to notice something else. It was crystal clear that the noise above were acting strange. Charon seemed to be distracted as well. The noise symbol in the sky was changing colors. There was no time to take notice to such things. Neku needed to deal with Charon. Luckily the demon wasn't fighting Neku personally. No, it seemed the demon wanted to take as long as possible. Neku was fine with that. If Charon was busy with him then Charon wasn't busy with Shiki. At her current state, she'd be no match for him. Hell, if Neku wasn't Composer then even he wouldn't stand a chance. He had all the power of Shibuya at his disposal. And it seemed that it was no jest when Charon said that he could defeat a Composer. Hopefully Shiki could finish up the game before everything came to an end.

XXX

"It seems that Charon is fighting Neku." Hanekoma said looking down through the golden crystal floor.

Joshua found that little shocking, "Charon?... Did that bastard order him to... Yes, that's the only explanation."

Hanekoma wondered, "Should we tell the director?"

Joshua didn't see the harm, "I don't think the Director would condone this..."

Hanekoma did point out one thing, "But since the fight is still going on... I doubt something like this would evade the Director's notice. If it's still going on..."

Joshua didn't need to hear the rest. He teleported away with a flash of light. The angel plane offered an easy form of instant travel. As a Composer he had used it a few times, but teleporting in the RG had inconveniences... such as matter. In this place it was easy to appear wherever you needed to be, but angels often didn't use this trick as much as you might think. They had some form of telepathy that Joshua had yet to master. Upon appearing in the audience of the Director Joshua immediately began, "Your pet demon is battling the Composer."

It didn't take long before Hanekoma appeared as well, "Forgive the intrusion, but it is true."

The Director responded in that thundering voice of his, "**THERE IS NO INTRUSTION. YOU WERE EXPECTED."** The response didn't catch Joshua off guard, but it had been a while since Joshua had to watch his mouth. Especially now that something could get Neku erased.

"I request that Charon's order be retracted. Shiki Misaki does not deserve to be erased." Joshua pointed out a simple truth that even the angels needed to see.

The Director wasn't so quick to agree, "**JOSHUA, YOU WERE THE ONE WHO KILLED HER, WERE YOU NOT?" **It took a moment for Joshua to realize the rational. Was the Director actually going to let Charon continue that rampage?

"It's not her fight or Neku's. Charon has been ordered against his will to do battle with Neku. Call him back." Joshua seemed to be a little demanding, but that's to be expected during desperation. Even Joshua couldn't predict that Agent would go so far as to order Charon to kill Shiki. What was his excuse.

"**AGENT, IT WAS YOU WHO ORDERED CHARON TO UNLEASH HIS POWER AGAINST THE PLAYER. WHY DID YOU DO THIS?"** The Agent appeared instantly next to Joshua. The angel plane made you get used to the fact anyone could be anywhere at any time.

The angel began, "I found that Shiki should not have been placed in this position in the first place. I ordered Charon to dispose of her. Erasing her now would put an end to this pitiful game." Agent seemed comfortable at telling the Director his thoughts. Perhaps a mistake.

A surge of power went through the room, **"YOUR ACTIONS COME WITH A PRICE, ARE YOU PREPARED?"** It was made quite clear what the situation was.

The angel seemed to think that unthinkable, "Shall I call back the order?"

Joshua found that amusing, "I should think so if you don't want to be erased."

The Agent smirked and looked at Joshua, "I think... I'll pay the price. Charon's full power has yet to be seen. There isn't an opponent that has been able to match him. Shall we see if he's stronger than Shibuya's Composer? Oh I think you can sense who's stronger can't you?"

Hanekoma frowned, "Agent... you've gone too far. You're causing yourself harm and others harm... Don't let the fight continue."

The Director clarified things, "**TURN YOUR ATTENTION TO SHIBUYA AND WATCH CLOSELY. YOU WILL SEE THAT CHARON ALONE IS UNABLE TO ERASE THE PLAYERS IN THIS GAME. THE NOISE HAVE GIVEN THEIR ECHOES SHAPE. THEY HAVE CHOSEN TO TAKE THE FORM OF DEAD REAPERS. IT WILL NOT BE LONG, BEFORE THE CLASH BEGINS. THESE ECHOES DO NOT WISH FOR SHIBUYA TO BE DESTROYED BY WE ANGELS. WE SHALL SEE IF DESTRUCTION COMES. THEY SHALL SEE THAT THE GAME CONTINUES."**

In truth not one of the three present noticed. Joshua turned his attention back to Shibuya and noticed something was off. The noise were descending? In pieces no less. It was as if they were focusing all the power of the noise in several key spots.

Hanekoma didn't hide the dissatisfaction on his face, "Okami's dead... They're using him as some kind of noise champion."

Agent was the next to say, "It seems he won't be the only one the noise make use of, I can guess that they'll take the form of any powerful reapers of the past... Perhaps the Composer would recognize them... but for now I only count one. Judging the amount of noise... they should be able to make more."

Hanekoma took a guess, "Five or maybe six. Either way they won't begin the clash unabated. If Okami was their first... they're readying to summon a second." The second champion of the noise would certainly surprise them if they knew who it was. Either way it was impossible to know now.

All they could do was watch everything from below.

XXX

"So... Weiss... Neku is back there, right?" Shiki actually had enough breath to talk while she ran toward the objective.

That was something Weiss didn't get, "Yeah! It looks like the angels are after you!" The sad part was he was pacted to her. If Charon was trying to kill her, there wasn't much that could get in his way. Weiss wondered how exactly they were supposed to make it through the week.  
Shiki seemed to start asking pointless question, "So in the future... Have Neku and I..."

Weiss didn't know a great way of putting it, "You've got a bunch of friends, you've got your own clothing line and you got a boy who totally digs you. Your future is pretty good. It's worth fighting for, trust me."

The girl bowed her head a little and repeated the words she heard, "It sounds unbelievable." Then she shut her eyes as she ran, "But I think you're telling me the truth..."

Weiss gave a half smile, "I could tell you the truth all day, but seeing it is what you really need right now. I think it'd be strange if you believed it so suddenly."

Shiki tried to be honest with him, "I think it's strange that I do... but... I believe you. It's not just the fact Shibuya is different it's just... I feel different right now. I don't feel like my appearance matters at all. I feel like there's a lot more at stake than my life. It's like... there's something I want to say... but I can't find the words."

Weiss chuckled, "I think that bond of yours with Neku couldn't be taken away with memory. You made a lot of friends and I don't think that goes away with memory."

Shiki asked him a cutting question, "You almost sound like you speak from experience."

Weiss found that statement questionable, "What do you mean? I didn't lose my memories."

Shiki explained, "You made friends too, but it seems like right now you're trying to hide that fact from yourself. It's like you're lying to yourself about your own memories not being real."

Weiss didn't like that comment, he didn't like it at all. He looked down the street toward where they were running. Suddenly he stretched his arm to yank Shiki behind a corner. She uncomfortably tripped and fell.

With plenty of irritation on her face she demanded an explanation, "What was that for?"

Weiss held up a hand over her mouth to silence her. He saw something across the corner. Something potentially dangerous? Yes, definitely something dangerous. Shiki could sense something too, something... odd and somehow familiar. "There's someone over there." She said at a whisper as Weiss nodded and peaked at what was scaring him, "It's him." Sho Minamimoto was standing in the street with both hands in his pockets. He was scouring the ground at some sort of track. His eyes were like that of a beast looking for prey.

"He's close." Sho said outloud as he looked across the buildings and made an impossible backflip into the top of a nearby building. He landed perfectly on his feet and took off in another direction. He jumped over Weiss and Shiki in the process. From they could tell, he didn't see them. He was focused on something else.

Weiss gradually took his hand off Shiki's mouth. "That was Sho Minamimoto. He's the current Conductor of the reaper's game. Well he was... what could he be up to?"

Shiki spoke her observation, "It looked like he was looking for someone..." For some reason she felt like she'd heard of him before. It was like the thought was on the tip of her tongue and she knew what he was doing now. "He's the one who tried to kill Joshua." She blurted out for seemingly no reason. "Joshua put a timer on his hand... if he ever tried to betray Joshua it would start ticking. The timer is gone now..."

Weiss turned his head and asked her, "What are you saying?" The girl looked at him with a puzzled sense of loss. She had no idea what she was saying, but she knew that. Maybe not all of her memories were gone after all. Or perhaps some of her memories were coming back to her. Either way, it didn't matter. They were close to their target and Weiss needed to end this game quickly. He needed to get her to focus, "We need to stay on task... our objective is nearby. We need to tread carefully and stay sharp. We're still in this game. So let's try to win while we have a shot."

Shiki paused a moment and nodded, "Alright. Let's keep going. I'll try to keep myself composed."

Weiss went around the corner and kept walking, "I'm trying to do the same. Do all you can." In truth she was doing better than he was. If a reaper fought them now, he wasn't sure how well they'd do.

XXX

"They're weak now... even so... this is far more chaotic than I ever intended it to be." Kotori thought outloud. What were the noise doing? Were they seeping all of their power into certain spots? Indeed they were, from what she could tell they were making some kind of supernoise. At this moment she was actually trying to pinpoint the spot where noise were clumping together. It was actually really close by... and getting closer.

"Ah, there you are." Said a unpleasantly familiar voice. Only the tone was all wrong. The voice usually was more gruff and lacked any hint of elegance.

"Your voice is different, Okami." Kotori turned her body with a disinterested look on her face. When she got a good look at what she faced, her face gained interest. "What happened?" The question was more interrogating than worried.

"You don't remember? You fought Okami a few days ago. His last wish was to give himself to chaos. A perfect vessel, wouldn't you agree?" The fact that thing wasn't referring to itself as Okami was revealing enough. One might guess it was the noise. But guesses weren't good enough.

"A vessel? That would make you noise then? Did Okami give his body over to the noise?" Kotori readied herself for a fight if there was any shred of Okami left in that body, he'd try to kill her without a second thought.

"Give his body over?... I'm surprised you wouldn't know. Okami was far to proud to give himself to anything. No... to make use of this vessel... we decided to erase him. His free will was getting in the way. Also taking the appearance of this fool's soul hardly matters. There will be plenty more noise out there with bodies like these soon enough. I suppose I don't mind telling you how it works. First..." Okami zipped over to her and launched a blast of energy out of a noise emblem from his palm. "You need to take an erased reaper. They strongest reapers always are the easiest for us to make use of. Then..." The noise fired more attacks as noise emblems started hovering around his body, each sending a blast of energy. "You take all the negative emotions of the reaper. We noise have access to their negative feelings and thoughts. We use those to construct a host body that can hold unspeakable amounts of noise. Reapers are the ideal candidates for holding massive amounts of noise."

Kotori actually managed to dodge the attacks by jumping from building top to building top. It wasn't easy, the attacks were pretty damaging by the look of them. The raw energy power told her what kind of opponent she was up against. This definitely wasn't Okami. This was the noise. "So are you going to try to add me to your reaper collection?"

The noise cocked his head with a smile and continued, "Making appearances based off these negative emotions can have side effects. We inherit their negative emotions and as such can be driven by their previous desired... however much it sickens me. I have an overwhelming desire to kill you... his rage is beyond being slaked. If I'm not careful I might just blurt out something Okami might say or do something he wanted to do."

Kotori dodged more attacks and readied herself to summon the White Noise. "So then... you're driven by his desires. That's why you wish to erase me?" The reaper decided to summon a small number of White Noise. It was risky using noise to fight a noise. But the truth was: she was going to run out of options. Dodging only could work for so long. She had a feeling she'd need to summon her wings soon enough. However there were risks to using her wings too often, the sheer amount of exhaustion. Using them now would tire her out and in two days she'd surely need to face the players. It was becoming painfully obvious that she'd need to go all out against this opponent. A small number of white noise made their appearance.

"No my dear, it is simply my mission to erase you. You see your little game has to come to an end. The angels have promised to stand back as long as the Composer stays in Shibuya. This little game is the only thing keeping him here. If he leaves or dies... the angels will destroy this city." The noise avatar made a howl which caused all of Kotori's White Noise to be stunned. Around their bodies was a shade of static. While they were stunned, ordinary noise entered the scene and attacked all they could. "We noise are well aware of their power. As we are well aware of the power of Shibuya. We shall let all life bask in the chaos. The children of man have revealed their true nature... us. We are humanity's creation we just want what you humans want and we can't have the angels interfering. For that I will end you here and now. Okami's desire to kill you is just going to be a double purpose."

There wasn't going to be any help from the White Noise and there wasn't going to be a tougher opponent than this. Kotori needed to call out her wings, her wings if overused could cause her to be temporarily or permanently weakened. It was a side effect to her power, a reaper naturally drew off the element of destruction. But her wings drew off the power of life. This could in some cases make her stronger than most reapers, but it was an unhealthy system. A reaper who drew off the power of life was bound to suffer side effects. It was one of the many reasons Kotori had not been caught using her wings. At this point it didn't matter if she was caught and it mattered even less if she wouldn't make it through a fight. It was time.

The reaper was just about ready to unleash her wings. Kotori started to charge up white energy when Okami let out a howl that sent out a form of static throughout the area. She noted this was the second time he used that howl. The first one distorted her White Noise. The second one seemed to keep her from calling out her wings. She tried a few times and grunted, but her wings weren't coming out. "What did you do?"

Okami kept attacking using beams and slashes. "That energy you use... it's the polar opposite of ours. The power of the angels... I can't imagine the means you obtained it. What angel or Composer would give you such an ability... no... even the Composer couldn't do that. You met with a talented angel... Hanekoma? Yes, he's the one who modified your soul? Did he tell you that you inherited some weaknesses? Noise naturally distort positive energy. In short, your white noise and yourself are weak against us. You were doomed before the battle began."

Kotori kept moving and found herself getting grazed by the attacks. The noise was getting faster too. It wouldn't be long before she was out of options. "If our powers are polar opposites... then you're weak against my attacks as well." Kotori sent a white bolt into the noise. She was right, noise hated positive energy more than energy. Kotori started to charge up to summon her wings. The noise interrupted yet again with a howl that caused a static. Kotori failed again to call out her wings and managed to dodge Okami's slash. "If I could just call out my wings..."

It didn't matter if she could or couldn't. This noise clearly wasn't going all out yet, "My fair lady, you think of fighting still? If only you understood that erasing me is impossible now. Even if you did manage to muster up enough reapers and players to face me. Erasing me permanently is impossible without the power of the angels or the Composer... you're out of luck aren't you? Neither is going to help you. There isn't a reaper in Shibuya who'd help you now. Not with your reputation and not after you're defying the current Composer. You know... I don't really like Okami. He was always too angry... never thinking things through. But... it looks like I'm going to do him a favor. He wanted to erase you and he wanted vengeance, that was his final wish, pitiful vengeance. HE SHALL HAVE IT!"

The noise was going to defeat her in combat eventually. She knew this, all she could do for now was hold her ground and hope for the best. The funny thing about hope is that it's a frail thing, but near impossible to erase. She was going to be just as hard to erase.

XXX

"We're getting close." Weiss kept looking up and down at his phone. "The kitty and fox are both in the same place." But where were they? They should have been right around the corner.

It wasn't long before Shiki noted the same problem. "Shouldn't we be about thirty yards away?" It was a bit odd. There were no walls, no catches no traps. Surely the reapers weren't going to just let them meet the task without giving them some sort of a fight? "They're not moving... I think this is a trap."

Weiss agreed as he poked his head around a corner, "There's two girls, one of them is the one who stole Mr. Mew. The other..." Weiss decided to give them both a scan which proved to be potentially dangerous. Noise were thick, it was difficult to even see even one person's thoughts. He couldn't scan them with all the noise in the way. "It's no use... I'm a capable scanner... but I can't see with this many noise in the way."

Shiki cocked her head in thought and made a suggestion, "Maybe we should listen in if they say something. I mean, it looks like they're talking." Weiss could barely see them with his eyes. Weiss was designed by the angels to see on multiple planes, but right now it seemed noise were so thick that even the RG was being effected. It wasn't great, but listening in seemed like a good idea.

Koneko was currently griping at her partner, "Kitsune... Why aren't any of your traps working?"

The redhead grabbed the white strands of hair on her head and whined, "Wha?... It's not my fault... the noise keep breaking them."

Koneko grabbed Kitsune's head and started rubbing her fist on Kitsune's head, "It's your fault this isn't working! The noise have never been a problem before! You're just doing it wrong, you always screw up whenever we're doing something important! Now do what you do best and make some traps!"

Kitsune whimpered and rubbed her head, "Ano... shouldn't you be keeping a lookout if the players are nearby?"

Koneko bonked Kitsune on the head, "No! Kotori is doing that, if the players were close she would have sent us a text. I don't need to keep a lookout right now!"

Kitsune corrected her, "But... all my traps were being messed up by these nasty noise. They just attacked me without being provoked... It's not fair. I think someone's trying to sabotage our mission."

Koneko was getting tired of hitting her partner, "Don't be stupid, no one can interfere with our mission. If the Composer ordered them to stop us, they couldn't find us. If the Composer didn't order them to help, then why would they try to stop us?"

Kitsune pulled out a phone, "Um... these guys messed up my traps." She held up a picture of Sho Minamimoto and Okami. "I just got pictures of them from the White Noise Kotori left to spy around the city. "They did it."

Koneko stole the phone and looked at it carefully, "Crap! Sho Minamimoto! The Conductor! If we fight him we're screwed! Screwed!" Koneko started rolling around on the ground and pouting. "Kotori will never forgive me, I'll never be able to show my face in public! We're doomed if I have to fight that math genius!"

Kitsune interrupted her pouting, "Uhh... Koneko... He broke my traps, he isn't looking for us. He went in the complete opposite direction of where we are. So... we wouldn't have to fight him."

Koneko got up with complete invigoration, "YES! YES! We're not going to die! We have NOTHING to worry about!" Koneko started running around and cheering while Kitsune turned her head to the corner.

"H-... hey Koneko. I think the players are over there..." Kitsune pointed nervously in the direction of the corner Weiss and Shiki were hiding behind.

Koneko didn't believe it, "Ha! If they were behind that corner I would have sensed them with my cat-like instincts!" She turned her head proudly and walked over to the corner. "See, no one here-" Weiss and Shiki launched an assault of psyches which Koneko dodged flipping and hopping off walls. "Kitsune! Why didn't you warn me?"

Kitsune moaned, "I... I did."

Koneko smirked, "No matter, we'll take you both on! You're weak now. In the emotional flux you're in... you'll stand no chance for Kitsune and me."

Kitsune walked over with both hands folded, "He- he... hello."

Weiss could see clearly now, he looked at the girls on all planes, "Strange... if you were reapers I thought I'd be able to sense you... but it seems you're both players... but there's something odd about you."

Shiki turned her head, "They're not reapers?"

Koneko readied herself for battle, "Let's go Kitsune!"

At that moment both Koneko and Kitsune charged up a ton of energy. White energy surrounded them both. Koneko's energy turned black and Kitsune's energy turned red. The energy started to take shape. On Koneko a pair of noise cat ears appeared on the top of her head and a noise cat tail. Kitsune got a matching pair of noise ears that were on the side of her head.

"A cat and a fox..." Shiki muttered. "They aren't reapers... so what are they?"

Weiss could fathom a guess, "This is just a guess but... they really are players or former players. What I don't understand is why you're working for the reapers."

Koneko took a few steps forward with her noise tail dangling around. "We would never work for the reapers. The reapers are the ones who tried to kill us."

Kitsune wasn't far behind and in a battle stance, "Kotori saved our lives. We were two players... who were fading into erasure. In our last moments Kotori managed to save us by fusing us with her white noise and using healing psyches. We owe her our existence. That's why we're helping her in this game."

Weiss was told an important fact, "Reapers can't do that... they feed off of death. The only ones capable of resurrection are the Composer and the angels... unless she were somehow capable of making use of the essence of life... how could she do that?"

Koneko was irritated, "She didn't bring us back from erasure, she just saved us from dying. I don't care how she did it or even why. I'm going to help her! I'm going to erase you so she finally can realize her dream! Come on Kitsune!"

In an instant the fight between the four players began. Koneko was definitely a melee type fighter while Kitsune kept her distance and attacked at range. Koneko began in Shiki's zone and was quick to attack first. Koneko got a clean shot off and sent Shiki flying. She of course had to boast, "Oh yeah, I can totally do that as much as I want!" However she was met with a similar punch to the face. Mr. Mew punched her in the face with exact same force. Koneko bounced off the wall instead of crashing.

Shiki kept her distance now that she learned her lesson. Koneko foolishly went in to attack Mr. Mew, "You can't fight if I destroy your psych." Koneko was on que, hit multiple times by the small black stuff animal. It was really really strong. Koneko noted it was stronger and faster than her physically. But what about the user? Koneko went straight for Shiki now. Only Mr. Mew kept trying to cut her off. There was one thing she was better at than Mr. Mew: jumping. The girl started hopping off of building walls and street poles to go straight for Shiki. "If I just take you out then I won't need to destroy your psych." Shiki nimbly dodged the girls kicks and managed to surprise her with a Mr. Mew attack from behind.

Kitsune wasn't doing much better. Weiss was a close ranged fighter and Kitsune definitely wasn't. Kitsune did manage to have a few surprises to keep her opponent at bay. "My apologies." She whimpered as she touched the floor. A small seal appeared on the ground. She was quick to make more, in fact all she had to do was send a bolt flying in Weiss' direction and even if it missed it created a seal on the ground. Weiss avoided the first couple of bolts and rushed in to attack her. The girl started firing bolts in front of her at the floor. Weiss couldn't avoid them all. He zipped over one and it exploded knocking him in the direction of another trap, which exploded. Kitsune fired some more in his direction which he had to dodge.

"Crap!" She was totally controlling his movement right now. Those bolts of her were clogging the field full of explosive traps. What was worse was she could make one blow you into another one until it was a game of pinball. Getting close to her was too much of a chore, perhaps he should test out his new pins? No, not yet. He needed to use, "Finger of God!" A tornado went off around the whole area and none of the seals moved. It did do a little damage to Kitsune, but ultimately she just kept cluttering Weiss' area with more explosive traps. The floor was becoming more and more littered with those seals.

It was no use, he had to use some sort of a ranged pin. He took a look at the pin's Nanami gave him and read one of. "Holy Fall?... Should I use it?" There was no time like the present. He gave the pin a use and a golden light pillar came down. It was similar to the light pillar's the Composer could call down, but they were colored differently and this pin had to recharge. At a rough guess, he'd say it was more dense and damaging than the Composer's pillar, but it had to recharge and wasn't able to be used as often as Joshua used his. Still it was a capable attack. Kitsune would probably agree. She jumped to avoid the attack. Unfortunately she made one mistake, she revealed that she couldn't touch her own traps.

"You jumped away from your own traps." Weiss zipped around let off another Tornado attack causing Kitsune to be sucked in the direction of her own trap. One went off blowing her into another one. That left an opening big enough for him to zero in on his target. The fox girl was hit with a number of shockwave attacks before she countered with another move.

"Sorry!" She whined as a giant explosive seal appeared on the ground. Weiss couldn't even avoid that one. "What?" The explosion that went off wasn't terribly strong, but it sent him flying back into the other traps creating something of a pinball effect. He must have hit at least 8 explosive seals. Weiss groaned as he could feel that Shiki was doing a lot better than him. Wait? She was doing better? How the mighty had fallen. He needed to finish up his fight. With the use of a heal pin, he got up and remembered something. "Shiki! The fusion pin!"

Shiki on her end was doing well against Koneko. Indeed, they had stored up an abundance of energy. They only needed a little more. "I'm catching on to this faster than I thought." Almost as if instinct took over now. She was fighting like she'd done it before. Shiki never remembered being able to dodge so well. Also her use of Mr. Mew was far above a beginner now. "I'm really good at this." Shiki managed to get the better of Koneko at last by making copies of Mr. Mew and attacking her from multiple directions.

Koneko didn't get it at all, "No! Yesterday your soul was in complete flux! You can't possibly have gained this much power this quickly. Your memories of your past are gone! You shouldn't have anything..."

Shiki decided to correct her, "That's just it Koneko... I do have everything. I may not remember it... but I can accept that I grew up and lived my life. Just because my mind doesn't remember what happened doesn't mean the heart forgets. I still have feelings I can't explain, I feel a bond even now... and... I believe there's a man out there who loves me. So I'm going to do everything in my power to get back to him!" The fusion power skyrocketed, "Ready Weiss?"

Weiss could feel her power coming back. It wasn't at max yet, but it certainly was astounding. "Ready to die!" He said as his eyes let out a blue and silver glow.

Shiki's did the same only a green color, "Then die!"

Energy shot out of them in both planes. Their enemies felt the full force of the attack and were overwhelmed at these two. All of the explosive traps went off at once and added to the force. The energy went off a few seconds before an invigorated Weiss and Shiki were staring at two beaten opponents. Koneko was definitely the worse off. Kitsune got up to help Koneko only to have her partner push her away, "Kitsune! Get out of here!"

Kitsune was a bit surprised, "Ano... what about you?"

Koneko got up for a little longer, "You get out of here... Run away as fast as you can. I'll keep them here." Kitsune wasn't moving when Weiss moved in to hit Kitsune with a shockwave. Koneko kicked Weiss blowing him back and she took a Mr. Mew punch which sent her skidding.

Kitsune ran off as fast as she could leaving traps behind making it harder for someone to follow her. "I'm sorry Koneko!"

Koneko looked back, "Don't get erased, who else am I going to pick on?" She took another hit from Weiss who was in no mood for sympathy.

"We need to catch her, don't let her get away!" Weiss said and Shiki tried to send Mr. Mew to catch her, Koneko stopped them both with a flurry of kicks.

"Get away from her!" Koneko said now trying not to cry, "I won't let you catch her! She's my partner!" Kitsune got away, but she wasn't going to escape. Maybe all she did was buy some time, but that was good enough for her. "Kotori has someone she loves too... and that's why... I'm going to try my best to... win..." Koneko shut her eyes from being tired. The first task was done. Only two remained:

_**Catch the Fox**_

_**Catch the Bunny**_

Kotori had been beaten before, every time she was beaten it was both humiliating and costly. The first defeat was against Kitaniji which ultimately lead to her price and confrontation with Joshua. That was the worst day of her life. After that she never faced defeat. Well, not true defeat. Reapers occasionally participated in mock battles where they would test their abilities. When Kotori lost mock battles, even the novice reapers could tell she was holding back. It wasn't worth pride to win, the only time she truly fought was when there was something at risk. There was risk now, Joshua knew that, Kotori was going to go all out.

Despite her best efforts she knew the truth. She was beaten and every bit of her strength had been all but spent. This noise avatar had her outmatched in every way. It was unmistakable that he hadn't even used a fraction of his power in defeating her. It just took time, that was all. Her time was up, her healing psyches spent. It was insulting to think that something that powerful could be in the form of Okami. "I wish that I could allow a fair battle... However we lack the luxury of time. Allowing you to summon your wings would be an unforgivable folly."

Kotori cursed and knew full well that she was no match for this 'howl of the noise' even with her wings. He spoke the truth when he said she'd need assistance to defeat him. "Damn."

"You fought well, reaper. But there are no miracles going to save you. There are no angels coming to your rescue. Take your last breath and be erased!" The noise avatar charged his body with negative energy and with a single howl Kotori was stunned. Just like her noise the howl caused static to dance around her body. Her opponent moved in closer to finish her off with a powerful fist full of energy.

Kotori closed her eyes, unable to move. Instead of of breathing her last breath she breathed out a wish. "May my son find happiness. May he find the will to forgive me." The noise let the furious punch go straight for her throat. The attack was going to finish her off.

**"So zetta slow."**

Someday

/watch?v=NX4cKIuRRQo

The noise fist stop short of hitting his target. His wrist was being held by a tattooed hand. It seemed the Conductor didn't want to see her finished off. His calculating gaze was on her, "You're out of your vector... Get out of the equation and find your solution. I'll deal with this problem." With a kick he sent the noise avatar skidding away.

The noise stayed surprisingly calm, "You're helping her, are you? I'd have to say I'm more than a little surprised. Might I ask why you're helping her?" The irritation was a definite undertone in the voice.

Sho readied himself in a battle stance, "It shouldn't matter to a zero like you. You shouldn't even give a factor what I do. I'm positive you really don't."

The noise smirked and exhaled a sigh, "You are as difficult to understand as ever, Minamimoto. I suppose even you have your reasons. Fine... if you are offering me your life, I shall take it. I will face you, master of taboo. I will face you as the worthy opponent you are.

XXX

Neku wasn't having too much trouble, but he was getting worried. Charon hadn't finished calling out his twelve noise. They were getting close to the end. "I guess I could consider these noise a warm up."

Charon nodded in agreement, "Yes, you could say that." He took off his glasses to rub them on a cloth. His eyes were glowing red and were slit like a beast. He reminded Neku that he was the real threat, not the noise. Neku never saw a demon fight, but he figured the expression 'fight like a demon' came from somewhere.

Charon's gaze went elsewhere, "It seems we are graced the company of lingering sentiment." He was looking at something behind Neku. Neku didn't have time to turn around there was too many rats to burn. The damned fallen noise were everywhere. Neku might get a chance to see who was behind him later when there was an opening.

"**Time be still."**

Neku knew that voice, he knew this feeling. Everything around him was black and white now. The fallen noise were frozen in time. This power belonged to someone familiar. The long dark shades, the tall stature, there was no mistake: Megumi Kitaniji stood behind Neku. "What makes you think I would allow you to harm His pick?"

**End Day 2**

[Oh my, I feel like I am rushing through this story. Perhaps that's a good thing given the rate which I update .

The story is starting to wrap itself up. Only five more days left. I think you'll all see where I'm going with this story. The noise are using echo's remnants of memories or negative emotion to create bodies of old reapers. I was torn between making original characters and using old ones. In the end I decided that there should be some old characters and I should allow myself room to place in new ones. The noise are going to choose powerful/ famous reapers from the past. Some you've seen and some you won't. These noise "echoes" are going to be representing the noise as their base avatar. Some will act like the person they look like and some won't. You'll have to wait and see. But I have plenty more I want you to see. ^^

My new job makes it a LOT easier to be on fanfic. But of course I'm trying to work on my book too. I have some friends who've agreed to help me edit it. Apparently I have some writing talent in this little mind of mine. Still, I like verbally telling stories, always did. I'm working on writing now as a means to get stories out of my head. I'd like any and all feedback you have to give. Hopefully if you've gotten this far I can at least say that I'm doing something right. I'll be sure to clean up this chapter (as well as previous ones) at another date. Right now I need to get some sleep.

Weiss Pin list (For your convenience):

Divine Radiance- The user creates a white energy blast blowing enemies back and dealing damage.

Argent Rise- A melee uppercut that can be used in combo with dash or shockwave

Holy Fall- A golden pillar of light is called down to do damage to the target

Sword of Heaven - Shockwave

Road to Zenith- Dash

Finger of God - Tornado (more charge up= more damage/ size)

Eternal Blessing- Recharging Healing pin


	17. Week Three, Day Three: The Conductor

[Thanks for reading this far. You deserve a medal for giving it a read this far. I think I found most of the spots where there was some sort of error. If you see any more please be sure to message me and I'll do away with them post haste. I'm currently in the process of getting a new job. The work will pay better but take up more hours and honestly I'm cool with that.

Now as far as editing is going I'm still hiring editors. For reference though I probably would want anyone interested in editing an original story to let me know, otherwise I'll assume you might be willing to edit this story. I'll pay you. I have money. ^^

On another note entirely this chapter is a bit longer, because as said before: There were originally going to be more days.

So what this means is my current chapters will have a higher word count which will be good for the readers I hope. At any rate enough about me let's move on with the story. If you're interested in an editing job please email or pm me. I'll be able to see it from my phone.]

Week Three, Day Three: The Conductor

0er0

XXX

_Man le's jus' go._

_Go where? You haven't even read the mission._

_Who'zat?_

_Greetings. I am this week's Game Master, Mitsuki Konishi._

_Tsk... This is the Iron Maiden?_

_ Move, yo! I ain't got time for you!_

_So primitive. You think I can't see what you're up to? You were _ _going to ignore the mission and cause some kind of trouble._

_So what, yo! I'm a Reaper. I don't gotta do some stupid mission!_

_...As I thought. Well, I regret to inform you you were officially expelled from the Reapers yesterday. As of today, you are just a Player._

Beat woke up as he usually did. Fast and full of energy. That memory of his was back when Rhyme was nothing but a little noise on his shoulder. "That bitch..." Beat clenched his fist and looked at the floor. He was older now and wiser... well not really. But at least he learned to speak as his sister called 'normally'. Although when he was at the skate park he'd always go back to talking like he did back then. Honestly though people didn't change much. He didn't, Rhyme didn't and hell... Even Shiki didn't change much at all since he met. Neku was the one that changed, not him. He didn't get any smarter, it seemed. Still, he got what he wanted out of the game, his life and his sister.

Rhyme woke slowly to the sound of Beat punching a wall. Why were they asleep?... They weren't players anymore. Rhyme looked around her and she saw something that startled her, noise seals were everywhere. "Beat?... Why did we just pass out?..." Beat as usual didn't have any idea. So she asked another question more urgently, "Why am I able to see noise without concentrating?"

Beat glanced around with feral anger, "I dunno. This ain't right at all..."

Behind him familiar voice confirmed his statement, "No, it isn't." Heads turned to see Kariya approaching with Uzuki not far behind. "The noise are infecting the Underground and the Underground is stretching it's boundaries. Pretty soon regular folks are going to be able to see it."

Beat asked him another question, "Why'd we fall asleep in the middle of the street?" He did his best not to add the word 'yo' at the end.

Uzuki beat Kariya to the punch, "Probably the same reason WE fell asleep. And we're reapers. Reapers and living people shouldn't be affected by the game. Noise shouldn't be appearing at this rate... Charon shouldn't be fighting our Composer. Honestly the shit hit the fan."

Kariya couldn't agree more, "We came to find you as soon as we woke up. From what I gather we haven't been out long. The noise are doing something strange. They're gathering in certain spots all over the city. The other reapers confirmed that there are currently two noise that are taking a human form. They're taking the forms of dead reapers. Okami was erased by Kotori earlier... since his death was the most recent... he was picked first. The next who was picked was Kitaniji... since his death was the next most recent..."

Rhyme paused and looked around, "The former Conductor? The noise have the power to revive someone like that?" Uzuki rolled her eyes, "Actually more than revive... they seem stronger than they normally were."

Beat gulped at the thought of fighting Kitaniji again. That was a tough reaper. He was crafty and powerful. It wasn't something that he could take lightly. So he went ahead and asked, "Stronger?..."

Kariya held up a hand before he panicked, "Hold up bucko. The noise are still noise. The way I think they're reviving the dead reapers is this, the noise feed on negative energy and emotion right? They're drawn to it, understand?"

Beat understood, "I get it."

Kariya continued speaking extra slow for Beat, but partially so he himself could understand it, "Well... reapers thrive off negative emotion and even have noise forms. Since the strongest reapers had noise forms, they had enough negative energy to merge themselves with the essence of the noise in order to become what we call Cantis. The singing. These noise forms are what I think the Noise used to revive them. The noise were able to absorb their negative emotions upon death. Basically they're being preserved because the noise ate the bad parts of them upon their death."

Rhyme thought about it, "So... the noise basically took the worst parts of them and made a sort of copy of them? That means that's not really them."

Uzuki agreed, "Yeah, but that's also the problem. Since we aren't dealing with reapers here, we're just dealing with their powers. The noise have compacted all the power they got into some former reapers. One is Okami, one is Kitaniji... and I'm guessing by now more have revived."

Rhyme started to talk, "Well... if they're going in order of death... then... the next one should be-" Noise interrupted her from speaking further. Super noise appeared all of which attacked from all directions.

"What are they, Taboo?" Beat shouted.

Kariya sent one back with an energy blast and grimaced, "Actually we're still figuring out how exactly this works... These noise don't listen to us, but they aren't Taboo..."

_ "_So primitive. As expected of you. Six years later and you're no different, this should be easy." Rhyme didn't know the voice, but Beat sure as hell did. His head turned with strain. He didn't believe it, no... it couldn't be her. It wasn't fair! She was already dead! Erased! Gone for good!

A busty blonde in her usual semi-maid getup stood with her arms crossed. It was Mitsuki Konishi. Kariya and Uzuki saw her too; they seemed even more bothered by the fact she was back. "The Iron Maiden." Kariya said with a lolipop still in his mouth.

The blonde lady was now covered in noise tattoos. She had the same voice and appearance otherwise, "Good to see you're still alive Kariya. Tell me, has Uzuki managed a promotion?" It was painfully obvious that Konishi was just egging on poor pink Uzuki.

Uzuki of course took the bait and raged for a few seconds, "Of course I didn't get my promotion! You made me look like an idiot to the Composer! You tricked me into taking that pin and it wasn't even the real thing! There was never any promotion that was coming from you! At least you got what you deserved! You're dead!"

Konishi took her glasses off and wiped them on a cloth, "Less dead than I was. However I have new terms of employment. The noise are currently the main authority over me. Although all the other reapers you meet may not realize it, there is still very much of the former person who's left behind. The noise took the essence of my noise and conveniently put it back together, stronger than ever before." The Iron Maiden put her glasses back on and giggled in the way that gave Beat nightmares, "I am one with the noise. Be it only a part of me, I am Mitsuki Konishi, I am myself. I am the Call of the Noise."

Beat readied himself, but he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt that same uneasiness and fear he was going to die. Beat had a simple solution for that feeling though, "Yo, what do you here fo!" He couldn't help talking like he used to.

Konishi smirked at him which put him on edge, "I'm not here to play a game of hide and seek. Actually I only really have one clear intention at the moment. As the noise I am driven to obey the law the noise places before me. For now I am to merely wait until the rest of us arrive. The others will take more time to arrive. I died fairly recently... so I was brought back almost as quickly as Kitaniji. The others will take more time."

Rhyme took a guess, "Kitaniji is going to be the strongest of you... the next one you'll revive is Higashizawa."

Konishi turned her attention to Rhyme, it seemed that the Iron Maiden was amused by her very presence, "It seems you're no longer a noise. I wonder... if you were to die now... what would you become?"

Beat took the bait and attacked her immediately. He came at her with a skateboard attack, which she nimbly avoided by hovering slightly off the ground. Beat let loose a number of energy shockwaves by slamming his board into the ground. The Iron Maiden just kept zipping around not even bothering to attack, "Since my new employer is the Noise. They granted a number of new talents in order to preform all necessary tasks. The first is the control over Perfect Noise."

Noise appeared yet again, this time more numerous. "That was you controllin' em!" Beat said as he took out one easily enough. "It was you who gave me the worst week of my life!"

Konishi let out that same creepy giggle then let out the first attack. A number of noise seals appeared in the air and pointed at him at different angles. All at once they let loose different colored blasts. "Such limited imagination. Still nothing but a vexatious worm, a stupid ape and a child waiting to die. We all know now why you beat me before... it wasn't your power. It was Neku. Neku is the one who carried you through the week. It was because of his power you survived as long as you did. You were partnered with him, so you drained what life force you could from him. You did little more than attack like a feral animal. I hated you, I still do. Your stupidity is something I can't stand. I can't stand the inferior, you're inferior to me in every sense of the word. Admit it."

Beat let out a yell, "You ain't better than me! Ain't nobody better than anybody!" He avoided all the attacks and rushed her with a tackle then swung again and again with his board. There were tears in his eyes now, she was getting to him. Not here! He couldn't let her win! He opened his eyes to see he was hitting nothing but an illusion.

Konishi's eyes were glowing red. "Am I not? Is Neku not your superior in every sense? Do you not wish to have power like his? Are you not frustrated with the fact that you were powerless to watch your sister be crushed by my hand!" She was definitely holding the upper hand.

Beat was about to swing again when Kariya grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back. If he had taken another step forward he would have been hit by both noise and energy blasts. "She's still using illusions, freshmeat. You can't just swing at everything she puts in front of you. We gotta find where she really is."

Naturally the guy wasn't a thinker, but from what Rhyme could tell, this lady was making Beat lose his grip. She of course wasn't just going to stand there, "Beat! She's just trying to get under your skin!" The girl whipped out the bell charm and sent a storm of golden sound at what seemed to be a blank spot. It turns out that that seemingly blank spot had a shadow on the ground, it's where Konishi was hiding. The attack connected, but unfortunately Konishi didn't so much as flinch.

The Iron Maiden had a habit of staring with cold eyes while she talked, "And what might you be?... His voice of reason?" The reaper seemed to vanish and reappear in Rhyme's shadow. The older lady bent over and whispered into Rhyme's ear, "Do you really think he listens to reason?" Rhyme waved her bell charm again and sent a golden sonic ring bouncing off several walls until it connected with Konishi. The thing with Konishi was whatever you could see right in front of you wasn't actually her. It was some sort of illusion. The illusions were capable of making sounds and in this case even physically be touched, but the real Konishi rarely appeared where she could be seen.

"If he can't hear me, I'll just have to speak louder." Rhyme said with her hair blowing cooling in the wind. Konishi was about to vanish when Beat connected a powerful skateboard slam onto the main body of the Konishi. It was looking better for them, they were actually hitting her. "Beat! She's got a lot of stamina, so she won't go down anytime soon." She sent sound waves bouncing off enemy noise to keep them off her. Uzuki of course wasn't going to sit back and look pretty. In fact she was going to look as scary as she could and attack.

Uzuki fiercely fired several blasts with her hands then unloaded five bullets from what appeared to be a strange revolver. The noise took the hits and didn't seem to be done. "Don't ignore us! We're reapers dammit!" The pink haired reaper actually might have made a good soccer player with how hard she kicked a noise at another noise.

Kariya might have made a good dancer with how he avoided noise attacks. He hovered around and nimbly dodged most noise attacks, "We got a score to settle too. Besides, I don't like noise impersonating a former boss of mine. Honestly... I think everyone dreams of killing their boss, I just never thought I'd get a chance to do it..." He muttered the last part as he charged up a super blast that might belong in dragon ball Z. The explosion of course was purple, and the smoke was a gold color. It seemed Kariya spent extra time to make the attack more flashy.

Konishi did seem to be at a disadvantage against all four of them. It might be necessary to even up the playing field. "Don't you two have something else you should be doing? Like maybe saving your Composer or perhaps the two remaining players in the game? You do know the risks if the game ends early." Konishi's bluff didn't seem to do more than make them glance in the direction of the Composer.

Kariya answered briefly after assessing the situation, "Yeah, we should probably try to help the Composer or players. But screw them." The reaper spit his lolipop on the ground. He wasn't going to leave Beat and Rhyme alone with that monster.

Uzuki tried attacking Konishi and failed as it was an illusion, "The Composer is fine! Those players can handle themselves!" Since she couldn't hit Konishi, she went for the never ending noise that appeared.

Konishi didn't giggle this time. She laughed, very very loudly. She laughed for a good eight seconds before she stopped. "You don't know what you're up against... you really don't."

Beat used a psych to make two chains appear that extended across the top of one building to the street. Using that chain he grinded his way down and created a shockwave that seemed bigger for the expressed reason that he was grinding before he hit the ground. Oddly enough the way his psych worked, he could do more powerful attacks the more ludicrous his skate tricks. "We're up against you! You ain't nothin'!" The shockwave managed to reveal the hiding Konishi so Kariya could send more blasts her way.

She responded by summoning up noise to absorb the attacks and then jabbed her hand into the noise, "Not surprising, you're completely unaware of the situation. Fine, I'll educate you for what little good it will do." With shut eyes the noise were absorbed into her hand. The noise were already damaged by Kariya's attack, she decided it was best to take their power and put it to better use: send it all as an attack towards Rhyme.

Rhyme wasn't really the fastest of the group, in fact that was an understatement. She was a stationary damage dealer. She started to run to avoid them, but moved too slow. The attack moved closer and closer, but before it connected. Beat pushed her out of the way. He took the full attack himself. At the very least he had his board in between him and the attack, but that didn't make it much less damaging. "Beat!" Rhyme said getting ready to use a healing pin. But it seemed like Konishi saw that coming too. She used an ability to seep into a shadow and pop out another one. She chose Rhyme's shadow from the moment she launched the attack. It's as if she knew Beat would get in the way. Before Rhyme charged up the healing pin, she was ambushed by Konishi. The number of attacks she let off made it impossible for Rhyme to do little more than block. What's worse is if Rhyme moved the attacks would hit Beat. Konishi summoned up noise with her free hand to get in the way of whatever assault Uzuki and Kariya sent her way.

The smile on Konishi's face was sadistic, she was definitely enjoying seeing Rhyme struggle. "Why doesn't your sister move I wonder? Is it because she wants to be erased again?" Beat of course wasn't going to take that laying down, he recovered what power he could and with an open palm sent a chain shooting out of his palm. Konishi didn't even have to move, it wasn't even close to hitting her. She would be tempted to roll her eyes if she could, but she was busy in a relentless assault. "Stupid ape." Konishi kept up her attacks and summoning noise. Kariya and Uzuki weren't going to be of any help.

Rhyme saw this chain and smirked, it was just what she needed. With her bell charm she slammed it against the chain. The whole chain vibrated with sound and as Konishi's eyes turned toward the chain it was too late. It exploded with a sonic boom that sent her flying into a wall. This gave Kariya and Uzuki the opening they needed to hammer hard. They sent attack after attack into the hole in the wall. Many of the hits Kariya and Uzuki sent at Konishi connected. But noise got in the way before they actually managed to finish Konishi. Uzuki and Kariya both looked at their own shadows then their reaper partner's shadow. "Funny." Kariya said outloud, "I thought she'd go to one of our shadows when she got an opening."

Out of Rhyme's shadow she slowly rose out and grabbed the back of Rhyme's neck while she was vulnerable. Konishi held her up proudly like a trophy. The look in her eyes was psychotic. "This will be the second time I crushed you to death." Konishi started to squeeze. Beat tried to get up but found his head smashed by Konishi's foot. It pressed his head into the concrete hard, "Just watch, little boy." Konishi was looking right at him. "I always hated you... She always hated you." Her voice sounded more and more distorted, her usual feminine voice was fading away. The ugly sounding noise started to reveal itself and her body started taking the shape of Tigress Cantis. "She hated you until the end. You always tried to save her, you always tried to save your friends and that's why she hated you!" Kariya and Uzuki were desperately trying to get to her, but the best they could do was get a few stray shots to hit Konishi, didn't even cause her to flinch. This supernoise in her had iron bones as far as stamina was concerned.

Beat managed to grab her leg and pull as hard as he could, no good. He kept trying to lift his head up but he couldn't. That bitch was strong and with a super noise possessing her, she was stronger than she was in life. "She hated the fact that you always tried to save everyone, she hated that no one was ever there to save her when she died. Konishi cried out for someone to save her when she died, but no one did... she had no hero. She never found her hero and now she never will. She hated heroes who couldn't save their loved ones. She hated this wonderful world. When she died, she cried out for destruction... in death she became a reaper. She used that hatred to kill would be heroes, she hated you most of all, because you reminded her of her own weakness." The noise moved it's face closer to Beat where he could see it, glowing eyes and all. "You're stupid Beat, you'll always be stupid. You'll always watch your loved ones die because you're too STUPID AND POWERLESS TO SAVE THEM!"

The monster let out a yell and as did Rhyme. It was crushing her neck and it was savoring their pain. "Despair! Despair at your miserable end!" Beat started yelling and used his other hand to grab the lioness other leg. The skater pulled the leg that wasn't on his head and caused the lioness to start tripping. Causing the other leg to free up his head. With his free head he headbutted the lioness under the jaw and sent a chain flying out his palm into the wrist of the supernoise. The hand was forced to let go of Rhyme. His skateboard reappeared in his hand then he started smacking the crap out of the noise. Kariya and Uzuki managed to break past the noise in time to triple team it. They each sent a different colored stream of energy which twirled into the monster's chest. It finished the fight. The supernoise went twirling into a building wall and an explosion went off.

When the smoke cleared Konishi stood against the wall with a hole through her stomach area. Instead of any sight of gore, there was a noise seal where there should be open the open wound. Konishi seemed to be rather happy for a person who just got a hole blown through her chest. "It seems you beat me." Her glasses fell off her face and cracked on the ground. She looked in time to warn them, "Well... then for the reaper that's left in me... I'll leave you with this warning."

Kariya did the talking, "Who's the next reaper to come? Higashizawa?"

Konishi shook her head, "No... he wasn't strong enough to be chosen by the noise. I was barely chosen myself... perhaps it was because I was merely a distraction?"

Kariya didn't want to think what the noise thought a distraction was supposed to be. That 'distraction' almost got them all killed, "Who's coming then?" Kariya didn't have time, he needed her to spill the beans before she faded away into nothingness.

Konishi coughed but grabbed Kariya by the shirt, "They're bringing back every Conductor from Shibuya... All the ancient Reapers and..."

Uzuki almost hurt Konishi further, "Ancient reapers? What ancient reapers?"

Kariya hushed her with an open palm, "Who's leading you? Who's the strongest noise?" By the looks of Konishi she didn't have much time to talk.

Konishi struggled to talk, but it seemed like she was straining herself as it was, a distorted voice spoke out of her, "Tell them nothing! Tell them nothing!" Then she spoke in her usual voice, "Cacophony. We obey... Cacophony." Konishi let out a yell then the distorted voice and her own started to mix, "They're going to summon ancient reapers... and... Composers. The Clash..." She faded into black and white static. A explosion went off that blew back Kariya and Uzuki. That conversation was over.

Beat merely held onto her sister, she wasn't breathing. He wasn't a doctor, but not breathing was a really bad sign. How long did he have? Shit! He needed to do something! He thought a moment of the healing pin. He put some effort into it, a little healing psych went off. He couldn't heal, never could. Not worth a damn. "Get me some help!" He yelled back at Kariya and Uzuki. Neither of them could heal either. Rhyme's eyes lazily remained open. They looked lifeless and cold. "SOMEBODY HELP!" He cried out through the streets. The boy started panicking and frantically tried to use the healing pin. Each time he did it looked more and more pathetic.

A soft feminine voice spoke, "Let me try." When Beat looked up he saw an unexpected ally. Why he hell was SHE helping? It was Kotori, aka: the gamemaster.

Kotori felt Rhyme's neck and her eyes narrowed, "Give me a moment. I can help her."

Uzuki pulled up her gun to shoot her, that was their target. Neku ordered them to find and erase her. If they erased her, this whole nonsense would be over. Before she pulled the trigger Kariya raised his hand. "Let the lady try." Uzuki really wanted to shoot that woman. It was her fault all this was going on, she didn't need to start this game. Was she so loyal to Joshua she was willing to kill them all?

Against her better judgment Uzuki let Kotori heal Rhyme. There was a stream of green energy flowing into Rhyme and it seemed to be working. Kotori seemed to be some sort of genius at healing. "She's sustained a lot of damage... she will live... but you need to find the Composer. Only Neku can repair all the damage to her soul." Rhyme gasped for air and coughed as Kotori spoke. With a glare the white winged reaper told Beat, "If you want to save her, bring her to Neku. He has enough creativity and imagination to help her further."

Beat yelled at Kotori, "What happened to her?" He might have grabbed Kotori if she hadn't jumped backwards.

"She should have died. The noise of Konishi did enough damage to erase her... it seems by sheer force of will she remained alive. All I could do was repair what damage that can be healed. She will live... but to bring her back to conscious state. You will need Neku. He's not far." Kotori turned to leave, but in her path were Uzuki and Kariya.

After a moment of silence the reapers let her pass. Kariya muttered under his breath simple thank you to her. Kotori didn't respond and walked away. "Hey Kotori." Kariya turned and spoke to her as she walked away further. "What are you playing this game for?..."

She answered bluntly, "Joshua has my son... I can't have him back until this game is over."

The woman left and Kariya let her leave. He looked at Uzuki, "Next time we see her, we do our job. We erase her."

Uzuki folded her arms and cocked her head, "I still say we erase her now and get it all over with..."

Kariya pulled out a fresh lolipop and put it in his mouth, "We can't be ungrateful can we... I'm tried... but we're all alive. We need to take Rhyme to Neku and tell him what's going to happen next... It seems the noise are about to resurrect from very dangerous people. Former Conductors and Composers."

XXX

Shibuya was never quiet and especially not today. Shiki Misaki didn't remember falling asleep, but she remembered waking up. "Oww." She said as a walking pedestrian stepped on her hand. "Watch it!" Shiki said getting up. The living person just kept walking as if he didn't hear her. "I can't believe players... What did I do to him?" Another person bumped into her when she stood up. "Hey!" More and more kept bumping into her. Was this a dream? No, it all felt very very real. "Weiss, wake up."

The white haired male got up and dusted his jacket. "When did we fall asleep?" He seemed not to remember passing out either. In fact people started bumping into him too. "What the?" He looked around him and asked a fair question to the masses around him, "Are all these living people touching us? Well... walking over us?"

Shiki looked around her, Shibuya looked different. Everything looked different. There were accidents all over the street. There were lights poles blown down. Signs were falling over for no reason. People weren't panicking, but all of them were in some sort of trance. They were going about their day as if nothing was wrong. But the whole city looked like crap. All the electronic screens were static. All the communication devices weren't working. People were ignoring it all. Shiki shouted at one of them, "Can you hear us?" After a moment of silence she guessed they couldn't. "Weiss... I think we can run into living people now? But it doesn't look like they can hear us yet. Any idea what's going on?"

Weiss looked up with the look on his face unusually worried. "Well... I have one." His finger pointed to the sky and Shiki's eyes followed. There was a giant noise seal in the sky and it was moving like a cloud fluttering to the ground. It's glow was devious and very visible. It was emitting an aura on the whole city, that aura seemed to wash away all sense of reason. Weiss grabbed a nearby guy in a suit, "Even if they can't hear us... if we can touch them we can at least get them to react." He held on to the random guy's arm. He just stood there, he didn't even try to get away. The look on the suited man's face didn't change. It was the same expression as everyone else in the street. Weiss gulped and tried scanning him. Everyone was thinking the same thing and everyone had noise in their head.

_Nothing is wrong._

_Everything is fine._

_Embrace the end._

_Let Cacophony sing._

Shiki saw it too. "Everyone is infected with noise. Everyone..." The girl looked at Weiss expecting him to have some answers.

He had nothing. "You think I know what's going on here?"

Shiki gave an apologetic sigh, "Sorry... usually you have some guesses."

Weiss started to shrug when he looked up. Then he looked all around him. He could see other planes now. He wasn't able to see all of them like he used to, it might be due to the angel leaving his body. Other worldly beings had a tendency to help you do things, like terrorize Shibuya. Weiss for whatever reason could see other planes way easier now. "All the planes are merging... The Underground and the Real Ground are merging into one. Living people might be a part of the clash. Everyone is infected with noise this... seal in the sky is emitting. It's working similar to the O-pins... only it's just overloading normal people with noise and making them think the same thing." This was really really BAD.

Shiki paused and noticed something, "If it's infecting everyone and we're not effected... that means players are immune?"

Weiss guessed, "It might be that we're immune, yes."

That theory was blown to hell when a familiar face appeared. "WHOA! This is all really really cool! Why is everything breaking! WHOA! A seal in the sky! People ignoring it! This is really really really cool!" Shuto Dan apparently was not effected. Why not him?

Shiki went ahead and said, "Hey there uhh... kid!"

Shuto turned to her and was busy being a Shonen hero stereotype, "WHOA! You're actually talking! Everyone else isn't talking!"

Weiss guessed, "Does this kid have a lot of spiritual awareness?..."

Shuto responded and deserved a medal for not saying 'whoa', "By the way, what's up with the people walking around with tattoos on their face? I saw a couple on my way to school. TIN PIN school!" Apparently normal school never cut it for him.

Shiki and Weiss looked at one another. Both spoke at the same time, "We need to go!" They both started running. There wasn't any time to mess around, they needed to find that fox girl and be quick about it. They were still on the clock, but all the chaos made them forget for a moment.

Shuto of course just went ahead and waved goodbye and ran off to his 'school'. And yes, he probably taught Tin Pin classes.

XXX

Kitsune never knew what to do without leadership. Koneko always told her what to do or called her names. It's funny, now that no one was making fun of her she missed it. The girl took her phone and glanced at it. Nothing but static and her reflection. The girl let out a disappointed sigh. "Now what do I do?..." The girl let out a moan and shut both eyes for a moment to think. "Alright... right now I need to find Kotori. She'll know what to do."

The moment Kitsune opened her eyes there was a beat up Charon staring her in the face. The girl squeaked with fear and Charon just kept looking at her. "You're some type of noise hybrid." It was a fact, not a question. "It seems that a powerful reaper took a dying player and infused noise within your soul in order to save it... clever."

Kitsune cocked her head, "Ano... Who are you?"

Charon looked around the area and decided whether he should answer or not. "The ferryman. I'm waiting for someone to find you. My mission is to erase Shiki Misaki. Until my orders change, my mission will not."

Kitsune thought about that as best she could, "Umm... Is that really fair? That's like waiting at the finish line for a racer."

Charon muttered, "Fairness is simply a concept humans came up with for one another. For higher beings there is no concern for what 'aught' to be. I will wait here for them, this is where they are coming. When they come, I will erase them."

Kitsune thought about that, "Well... what if I don't want to go along with this? I just wanted to hide as long as I could. So... if it's all the same to you." Kitsune started to weakly walk away backwards. Then she turned to run away, only to hit a barrier which shocked her as she fell away from it.

Charon looked at her with disinterest, "What you want is unimportant. You will remain here, until the players who hunt you come. At which time I will erase them. That is all. I do not care about your opinion on the matter. For your assistance I will not allow you to be erased, that is my deal."

Kitsune was a trapped animal and a frowning one at that. "Erm... I'll just wait then."

XXX

Shiki couldn't use her phone at all, but at least Weiss still had a working phone. Must have been some special angel phone that wouldn't screw up during something like this. Lucky them, that was just what they needed. They needed to find that fox and fast. If they finished this mission, then maybe they could work on helping the city. From the short run, they could see a lot. There were almost no buildings without damage. There were signs falling down, the city was literally being torn apart by what seemed to be nothing. Shibuya was falling and the noise were to blame.

Weiss looked at his phone and calculated the nearest route, "It looks like our mission target isn't moving. This is a lucky break for us."

Shiki found that really odd, "I hope it is. This really isn't our best week, so I'm a little concerned."

Weiss could probably agree, "Still... best to prepare for some type of ambush. Even if it is a lucky break for us... we can expect Kotori has something planned."

Shiki agreed, "I think you're right. Kotori has been able to plan pretty far ahead."

Little did either of them know. Kotori no longer had any control over the situation. In this chaos, no one did. Again with another scan they were reminded of who was really controlling the situation.

_Nothing is wrong._

_Everything is fine._

_Embrace the end._

_Let Cacophony sing._

Weiss asked himself a question, "Cacophony... where do I know that word from?"

Shiki wasn't able to recall, "I don't think I've ever heard that word... It's English right?"

Weiss nodded, "It's a term for chaotic noise... like a bunch of obnoxious sounds going off at once. Although given what the noise are doing... I'm a little worried at what else it might mean..." He was right to worry, the noise were preparing for the clash. It seemed that Shibuya wasn't ready at all.

XXX

~A little while earlier~

Neku had seen some surprising crap in his day. It took a lot to surprise him anymore, Kitaniji showing up to help him fight a suited demon surprised him. Charon himself seemed to be surprised at his visit. Although Charon's surprised face was a lot more subtle. Behind his glasses the burning eyes squinted a little and an eyebrow raised. Other than that there was a vacant expression.

Kitaniji stepped closer to Neku, "It is good to see you, Neku. I wish we could have met on better terms originally. Unfortunately circumstances made that impossible." He pushed up those shades of his and sized up the situation, "That demon there has been ordered to do something you cannot allow, is that correct?" Kitaniji almost expected Neku to trust him immediately.

Neku was hesitant to answer, "That's more or less it." Then his attention turned back to Charon. Who he wouldn't let get a cheap shot from being distracted. "He's been ordered by some angels to erase someone important to me."

Kitaniji took an accurate guess, "Shiki Misaki? Yes, of course." Kitaniji never seemed to take a defensive stance, but a skilled observer could tell that his attention never left Charon.

Charon went ahead and stated what he noticed, "You are a noise. You took the erased Anguis Cantis and put it back together. Doing so merges you with the negative emotions of the former Conductor... How many other reapers that were erased do you intend to impersonate?" The demon while intimidating, didn't seem like he was as interested in fighting anymore.

Kitaniji kept his smile stamped on his face. Rarely did his expression change from a smile. Even in his death he smiled, that might be why he was smiling now, "It's true I'm a noise. I'm the Hiss of the Noise in fact. I stole the identity of Megumi Kitaniji. However... we noise inherit more than their appearance. From their negative emotions we can put together their memories, personality and regrets. If the negative emotion was strong enough, it can overwhelm the noise and the noise may loose control of an Echo such as this." Kitaniji seemed to be explaining to Neku as well. "Neku is the one who killed Kitaniji... however despite this, Kitaniji has no hatred in his heart towards him. It seems he had admiration for Neku and the Composer who chose him. I find it strange that a man so intelligent could be so brainwashed by the Composer. Well... it's not too surprising. The Composer and he used to be friends."

Charon didn't waste any time. "I have no interest in Kitaniji's history." He took a few steps forward and extended his hand. "Face the Fallen. Devour your prey, Lion. Represent the Fallen, Dragon!" The lion appeared first, appearing as demonic as any other fallen. The monster didn't attack, it crouched as if it were ready to strike letting Neku and Kitaniji stay on edge. Although neither of them seemed to worried. "Allow me to handle this one, Mr. Sakuraba." Kitaniji said stepping forward to fight it.

Neku grunted in annoyance, "Why exactly are you going to help me again?" The question remained stagnant in the air until a burning black smoke dragon appeared. It seemed more fixated on Neku. Kitaniji found reason to answer, "Because... I have been commanded by the noise. I have a master as any noise does... it for whatever reason, cannot allow Shiki to be erased." Charon smirked at that but didn't speak. He just did a nodding motion and both noise attacked.

The smoke dragon spit out a mix of hellfire and smoke. It turned to vapor and reappeared wherever it spit fire. Neku frowned and launched a barrage of ice at the smoke dragon. All of the attacks went through the monster harmlessly. The dragon responded by spitting burning fire blasts that left black flame burning in the spot it hit. Neku didn't catch on immediately, but he was getting closer to figuring out what how this noise worked. He shot a few energy blasts at it's smoke body and some at the flames below it. The flames upon being hit by his attack died down. The dragon didn't have a body to hit, just the flame. Neku avoided the fireballs it sent his way and responded by shooting ice shards at the floor. Despite it being ice, it didn't work any better than the blasts. Apparently the flame took damage all the same. In which case, Neku sent a huge arsenal of dark bolts and lightning at the flames under the dragon. All of the flames died, which left Neku with a smirk on his face.

Neku almost dropped his guard too soon. The dragon wasn't dead, it became solid and heaved a breath of fire on the ground flooding the whole area. Neku responded by hitting it with his own fire. Then he hit the dragon while it was solid with an impressive looking beam of Composer power. He was lucky he was Composer, it made the battle much easier. Come to think of it, not needing to fight two noise at once made it easier. It wouldn't be long before he killed the dragon, but the trick with this noise was every time it flew over smoke it became ethereal. It was a tedious task, but he'd get it done.

Kitaniji was having considerable ease with his noise. The lion raced over to charge him only to be frozen in place, "Time be still." Kitaniji's signature move, freezing everything around him. Although the old Kitaniji couldn't freeze attacks too. This one froze everything. While the lion was frozen in place Kitaniji charged up a powerful attack that was slow and easy to dodge, but with the enemy frozen there was no way for it to dodge. The lion took the hit with full force, it had a surprising amount of stamina. It just kept coming despite the hit it just took. Kitaniji hit it with another of his old tricks: a zig zagging damaging orb. Instead of sending out one, he sent out 2 or three at a time. Each one hitting the lion. "This noise has stamina. That must be what the lion has. It would immortal to most opponents... damaging it seems to be a difficult task." Kitaniji froze time again and hit it with his defense breaking melee hit. Ordinarily easy to dodge, but when frozen, impossible. The lion took a heavy hit. "It may take time to defeat this one."

Neku went ahead and let him know the obvious, "Mine is going to take time too. Since we've some time to kill..." Neku obviously was busy on his end, "Why exactly are you helping me out?"

Kitaniji found that interesting; it appeared he was no longer paying attention to the lion noise, but he teleported out of the way of an attack and countered. "I told you, however you want me to go into depth? Very possible, you see Mr. Sakuraba... The noise have a sentience. It sings and we obey. For reasons I do not know, it would rather fight you players than the angels. The angels have a method of destroying the very underground of Shibuya. This would erase all the noise and devastate everyone remaining. So our interests are not so different. Neither of us want Shibuya to be destroyed. By the director's decree... if the game ends before day four, he will erase us all. If Charon erases Shiki... all will be lost."

Neku had heard that the director wanted the game to continue, but what purpose did that serve? It didn't really make much sense to him why this 'Director' fellow had such interest in a game no one else wanted to participate in. The only thing it involved was Kotori, his wife and Weiss. Joshua started the game and forced Kotori to play using some underhanded method. Weiss ended up in the game by chance and Joshua also forced Shiki into the game as a means to force Neku to stay in Shibuya. The real question was: Why did Joshua make this game happen in the first place? Why did Charon get ordered to end it? Something was going on upstairs that he missed. Actually from what he could gather, most of the people upstairs didn't get why it mattered either. "Joshua knew something I didn't... He's the one who started this game. I suppose it's his own method of saving Shibuya."

Kitaniji kept fighting the noise and almost seemed like a mentor the way he spoke, "I still have the upmost respect for Joshua. He was a fine Composer... he believed in risk. In gambling what was most important to you in order to win or lose all. The angel's method wasn't a gamble. They wanted to eliminate all life in order to be sure to silence the noise threat. He intends to gamble and win as he has always done. Regardless of the risk, Joshua has never lost a game. It was an honor being his Conductor."

Neku almost wanted to send a wave of flame in Kitaniji's direction. But it wasn't worth it. Instead he just asked, "Why do you trust Joshua... he's the one who got you killed. He erased Shiki, I can't forgive him."

Kitaniji seemed to understand, "He took what was most precious from you, did he?... That is one of his ways of showing you how important someone is. Shiki is not lost... If the game is won, nothing is lost."

Neku almost had an argument with him instead of fighting the noise in front of his face, "What about Rhyme? What about all the people who lost the game? What about the reapers and you! The whole system is sick! Rhyme never got her dreams back, she's been in Beat's shadow all her life. Just working off of his goals, she lost hers and Joshua never gave them back."

Kitaniji countered, "Rhyme found something more important than her price, Neku. At the beginning of the game, it was her dreams. At the end of the game she gained something far more important. Her brother. You see, Neku... Rhyme does not need her original goal. There was no need to return that which was no longer necessary." This may have been Kitaniji's take. But in some ways he had a point and in others it sounded like complete bull.

Neku found it bull, "He's risking things that aren't his. What right does he have to gamble with Shibuya or for that matter our lives? He doesn't have the right and he never will!" Neku getting mad came in handy for beating his noise. The dragon was having more trouble dealing with him now that he was getting irate.

Kitaniji frowned, "I suppose you do not respect him as I do, understandable. He has done much for Shibuya. I suppose you would have to have seen the Composers before him. It is fortunate that he is Composer now, for if the other Composers still existed. Then Shibuya would have long since been destroyed. The system of the game can only be changed so much. Joshua made what changes he could and for that I admire him. To me he was little else than a god."

Neku didn't get that at all, "He doesn't deserve that kind of worship."

Kitaniji didn't correct Neku, "Perhaps you are right. Still... it was not Joshua or you who erased me that day. I figured it out at the end... I suppose that is better than never understanding."

Neku wanted him to elaborate, "And just what was there to understand. You aren't Kitaniji, he's been erased long ago."

Kitaniji paused as if wondering how best to tell him. "It is easy to forget I am not Kitaniji, but yet I feel that I am Kitaniji. This is what I understood. Joshua wanted to destroy Shibuya. To spare it from the fate it may one day face. If he destroyed it, perhaps it would be better than what the angels were going to do. That was his tribulation. He wanted to spare Shibuya the war between noise and angel perhaps. In any case I learned of his plan to possibly destroy Shibuya. He asked for a game to prove it as he always did. He chose you as his proxy and you were to play the reapers game in his stead. I did many things to try to erase you. I couldn't leave it to chance. I had to ensure your erasure, I did everything in my power. I had all the tools, I had the reapers and the game. However with every attempt I failed. From the very first week to the very last, every trick and every reaper was expended. It was during the final days I revealed my plan to Joshua. To unite Shibuya and later the world. My method was perfect, it would spare Shibuya and with every force in Shibuya against you... there was no doubt you'd be erased. It was too late before I realized. I gave up on Shibuya... I wanted to turn it into something else entirely. I wanted to force Shibuya to change... no I wanted to destroy Shibuya in my own way. Joshua saw what I chose to do and let the game continue. This was his way of making a decision. By using you, he wanted to see which was greater. My method or his? Because I gave up on Shibuya... I lost. Even at the very end, Joshua decided to test both of our methods. By combining some of his power with my own. I became the ultimate noise. I had the power of your allies, I had the power of the Conductor and even the Composer. Still... I failed. It was then I knew the truth. Shibuya could not be so easily cheated. Not by Joshua and certainly not by me. For breaking countless rules, for going against the will of the Composer and for turning my back on everything... I was erased. My regret... Neku... is what noise used to rebuild me. I am driven by a former desire. This time I will not turn my back on Shibuya... this time I will fight to the bitter end as I did before. Without abandoning the Composer or that which the Composer represents."

That was deep, that was his remorse? He was a lingering sentiment of Kitaniji, an echo. It seemed that an echo could still retain some of the old desires from the previous owner. The noise put together a convincing replica, it made Neku wonder just how much of Kitaniji was in there. Probably enough to fool him, minus the noise tattoo on his hand where his timer used to be. The last two noise had Tattoos all over them. Kitaniji had relatively few in comparison. Neku had to make a guess, Joshua helped Kitaniji a long time ago. It may have been replacing a former Composer. One had to wonder who. It did make a certain amount of sense that Joshua could change the game a certain amount. But it begged to question how much did he change the Reaper's Game. How much was the Composer allowed to change? One would think all of it, still... If Shibuya had other Composers, what game did they play? Also, what kind of power would it take to kill a Composer? Wait... is that how they knew? Yes, the only reason people would know that killing a Composer would make the murderer Composer is because someone did it before. Someone did it before, Joshua did. Who did he kill to take it? It didn't matter, Neku had bigger things to worry about. A pissed off demon trying to erase his wife would be a pretty big thing to worry about.

Charon glared at them both in silence, even disinterest. "Composer, if you erase that noise now... you'll spare yourself great heartache. In time you'll know all noise to be your opponent."

Neku didn't take long with his response, it didn't really take much thought, "Erasing him isn't going to save Shiki... you on the other hand..."

Charon took off his glasses and put them in his pocket. His eyes burning brighter than usual. "The Fallen banished... abandon all hope and enter my domain." The area around them started turning red. From what Neku could tell he was pulling him into a lower plane. A plane far lower than any living being should see. Imagine Shibuya. Imagine Shibuya on fire. Now imagine that Shibuya was burning for years and all the roads melted. All the concrete cracked. Imagine a red aura with flames in the sky, that's what it looked like. The noise he knew were gone. In their place were other worldly creatures openly wandering the streets. Was he in hell? No... This was still Shibuya, but everything looked terrible. Charon explained what was the basic rundown, "You are in the lowest plane a Composer can enter. Rue this moment. Here you shall remain until our battle has reached it's end. I cannot force a Composer to leave Shibuya... A Composer can never unwillingly be taken away from his domain. But in this plane... you are caged as am I. If you defeat me, Composer. You will have won your glorious freedom. If you lose, you will be erased. Composer or not."

This guy didn't seem to calculate something. Neku didn't feel any weaker here, he was still in Shibuya and as Composers could do: he drew power. Neku started glowing in an orange aura. His shape became more like a wisp. Neku had gone from looking human to some sort of energy being. Unlike Joshua's more fluttery appearance, Neku had a sharper version. His aura wasn't fluffy cotton, no his was lightning and smoke. Neku's eyes turned dark black. A mix of black and orange crackled to the point of intimidation. Charon looked at him, not unimpressed, but not surprised.

Charon's suit never left his body. After a roar a noise seal appeared above his head and shot down like a beam that could make the white house explode. The explosion blew nearby buildings away, but Neku didn't even skid backwards. Those dark eyes of his kept fixated on his opponent. Who's human appearance had left. He was now a demonic avatar. Instead of angel wings, he had leathery demon wings. The suit he wore was torn up and undone. The chest area had been completely blow off leaving nothing but dangling shreds of cloth and pants. His body was a mix of noise and actual flesh. His wings had no visible tattoos and were very real. His face looked mostly the same only instead of hair he had a very small amount of flame. His breath and eyes were burning. His skin looked like cracked lava. The cracked lava seemed to shape a noise seal on his chest which radiated a dark aura. This was his true form, a demon. "May living forever bind you." He said as he appeared behind Neku. The first punch didn't seem to make Neku move very far, but it hurt.

The next couple of attacks Neku avoided. Then pillars of light came from the sky. When they missed more pillars, when those missed, it seemed that they could come from every angle. Up or down. Left or right. They came from everywhere. Charon of course didn't dodge them all. He just kept wailing on the Composer. Each hit seemed to cause more pain than any physical damage. Neku teleported away and sent more attacks towards Charon. Despite what it looked like, those pillars weren't doing nothing. Each one was putting cracks in his back or wherever they hit. The demon opened his mouth and a noise seal appeared in front of his face. From the noise seal it seemed like a dragon spewing out a death blast.

Neku avoided it at first, but Charon turned his head and the beam turned with it. With an open palm he made a noise seal appear in the air which rained down dark energy bolts. Each one that didn't hit Neku hit the ground and caused explosions. Neku muttered with his voice completely distorted by power, "I feel like I'm fighting a villain from DBZ... and I'm super saiya-" He didn't get to finish the reference before Charon gave him a kick then both extended wings let out a pulse which blew him backwards. Charon didn't get the joke apparently.

Neku teleported behind him and grabbed his arms. While he was in a full nelson he raised the demon in the air allowing multiple pillars of light to hit him several times. Neku forgot the wings they flapped to hit his arms and loosen his grip. The demon turned around and let out another mouth beam. Neku felt odd, his body felt fine, better than usual in fact. This demon wasn't doing any damage at all. But something was up. That pain from earlier... something hurt, it wasn't his body though. "Close yourself to the world." The demon punched Neku again and in response he got hit with light pillars. The attacks were definitely doing something. Neku wasn't stupid. But he wasn't smart enough to know what without witnessing first hand. He didn't need to know.

"You're almost saying the opposite of what Hanekoma says." Neku pointed out as he launched another volley of blasts which Charon just now dodged by erupting into flame. The flames moved past the attack and in front of Neku. Charon grabbed Neku by the throat, "Rue eternity." The demon took his free hand and did several palm strikes against the Composer. It took many hits before Neku actually managed to force him to let go. Neku was exchanging blows it seems only the demon might not be making progress. The demon didn't seem to be able to kill him. Charon was strong, sure, but something seemed to be preventing Neku from actually losing.

Charon may have had an idea what was giving Neku so much stamina. It was obvious really: Shibuya. Neku could only be killed by something else in Shibuya. What happened when the Composer died? He forfeit his power? He gave it to the one who killed him, right? So if Charon actually killed him, then the Composer power would go where?... "What happens if I'm erased?" Neku asked.

The demon smirked, he didn't have to answer but he did, "The Composer is not just power to you humans... the Composer has power that extends beyond the power of most angels or demons. The Composer... cannot be killed unless they are killed by someone who considers Shibuya home. Yes, that means I cannot actually erase you. Nor could the noise. It is a power reserved to humans and humans alone. No matter how I try, you will not die and you cannot be erased." The demon didn't stop attacking. It turned to flame and attacked.

Neku rolled his eyes, well if he couldn't be erased... then what the hell was Charon going to do? If Charon said he couldn't be erased, and Neku believed him. For a demon this one sounded like he wasn't lying. What the hell, what was his end game then? "I can't be erased, eh? That sounds like a perk... Won't have to worry about retirement for a while if that's true." Neku avoided the attacks as best he could and responded with some damage. The demon went out of his way to trade blows. Every attack hit Neku, causing increasing pain. It wasn't unbearable, but it was getting worse each time. It was difficult to describe. The damage was hitting his soul, not his mind and not his body. Neku didn't feel any weaker though. In fact each attack made him feel stronger and more determined to put this bastard in his place.

The demon did have an endgame. The monster finally drew back as if he'd done enough. It then felt like he was charging something. Like some attack that he was building up all this time. Neku started launching attacks more desperately, not really sure what he was trying to stop. Charon might not be able to erase him, but it might just stop short of beating the crap out of him. Hell, if Neku was weak enough he might be able to drag him out of Shibuya. Neku might have impressed his friends if they could see how hard he was hitting Charon. A combo of psyches worth of Composer kept hitting the demon. But Charon never lost his concentration, he just kept charging up some attack. In terms of raw power, it was more than Sho Minamimoto's Composer killing move. Wait, that made him think a moment of Joshua.

Charon took advantage of Neku distracting himself. "If this world truly ends with you. IT ENDS NOW!" The distorted voice let out a howl and Neku felt his soul start erupting. All of the hits Charon used on him all reacted at once. Each one of them felt like a seal inside of his soul all of them spewing out more heat than a volcano. The attack wasn't painful, but it hurt. It was a type of pain Neku wasn't used to enduring. The attack itself sent the entire area bursting into flames. Charon even seemed to be hit by the flame blast spewing from Neku. Neku's own soul was on fire, the power was converted into heat like physics energy loss. There was enough of an explosion to send buildings crashing down in the opposite direction of the blast. Charon watched through the flames and smoke, he caught every detail. Neku was almost destroyed, just barely. But the attack didn't quite finish. Before the entirety of Neku's soul combusted he seemed to vanish into thin air. "You used the same technique Joshua used... teleporting your being elsewhere... with no way to get back. I see."

The demon put on his glasses and turned his back to his former opponent. Charon flipped his phone open to answer a call, "Yes. He escaped." After a moment of listening he nodded his head as if acknowledging new orders, "Without the Composer's protection, Shiki Misaki does not possess the means to escape erasure."

The voice on the other end could finally be heard, "If I find out you let him or her escape, you'll be punished. Is that understood." The voice sounded like Agent.

Charon hung up the phone without answering. The hellish place he was slowly faded away and changed into the normal Shibuya. The shifting of planes was quick and took no more than a couple of seconds. He took a slow stride in the right direction. "It seems there is no pleasing him..." The demon vanished and left. There was no telling where Neku went he could be anywhere from Chicago to another dimension.

XXXXXXXXXX

[Even earlier]

Kotori thought she was going to die I mean it really really looked like she was going to die. The supernoise version of Okami was a fraction of a second from finishing her off. The only thing that stopped that noise from actually finishing her off was an unlikely savior.

"Zetta slow." A voice muttered behind her. Her head turned just shy of seeing a blur go past her and kick Okami in the face. Okami went flying backwards and was knocked through the floor. They were on top of a building. A single spot of concrete can hold upward of 800 pounds so it stood to guess that Okami was hit pretty hard to go through it. Sho just stood in front of Kotori with his hands in his pockets.

The supernoise hopped through the concrete making another hole through the concrete roof. "And just who are you calling slow? The woman or myself?" His guard wasn't up and it was as if he was waiting for Sho to attack Kotori rather than him. "May I ask why you kicked me? I thought you were ordered to erase that woman?"

Sho turned his body and looked at the woman who was pretty easy prey. His hand was infected with noise tattoos and he lifted Kotori up. Sho had a way of smiling that let everyone know he was absolutely nuts. "You and her." He said turning back to face Okami.

Okami gave him a confused look, the confusion was queer to him. "Your pardon?"

Sho answered, "You and her, you're both zetta slow. Does that answer your question, radian?"

It did actually, but there was more to say. There was a moment of silence. Both Kotori and he made their own attempts to assess the situation. But to no avail.

Being good at reading people was something Kotori was naturally good at. Everybody could be read by the cover and the more she learned about someone's past the better she was at predicting behavior. From reapers to players they all had the same basic motivations. Every person she read was a simple to understand book with a simple to understand plot.

When Kotori looked at Sho Minamimoto she saw a complicated physics book. There was nothing but a constantly expanding math flux. Understanding Sho wasn't possible for her. It was like finding the end of pi. There was no telling what he'd actually do. Like now she found herself being guarded by the Conductor. Kotori had recently lost her status as a reaper and the other reapers were on a man hunt for her. Conveniently, they'd never find her. As long as they searched for Kotori on Neku's behalf it wasn't possible for her to be found. Also the chaos in the city said something in of itself. There was no way anyone was going to find her easily. Sho wasn't anyone. Sho found her and what he was up to was left entirely to speculation.

Okami seemed to be having an equally difficult time guessing what Sho was up to. "Conductor Minamimoto... I'll ask in terms that you will be more likely to respond to. What positive effect would allowing that woman to live have? If she lives she will attempt to continue this ludicrous game. If she wins the game then the Director has promised he will completely destroy Shibuya. We noise even see this as a negative effect. If I erase her now the lunacy ends. If you protect her then even you shall be destroyed. There is only negative effects in protecting that reaper traitor. She sides with Joshua and she is our common enemy." Okami didn't sound like Okami. By the expression on the Conductor's face he caught on that Okami wasn't normal.

"Please excuse my dear aunt sally if I don't give two factors about this game. You're not Okami and you haven't put a digit of effort into saving anything. Noise only know how to destroy, radian. You're a noise and you should know your vector." Sho took a battle stance and gave a confident smile.

Okami unlike his usual understood the math reference. The tattoo on his face began to glow. "Am I? I believe my... 'vector'... is right where I am. You don't seem to understand, Minamimoto. How sure are you I'm your enemy?" The noise kept his arm crossed and his eye on Kotori.

Sho rushed him and hit him firmly in the stomach. The noise took the hit with his arms crossed, "Positive." Sho said with his full confidence. Then his foot spun as he kicked Okami with his leg sending him skidding backwards.

Okami chuckled and actually said something that bothered Sho, "But you aren't positive are you? You're one of us, you're no less a noise than I am. You will soon bend to the will of our Cacophony." Okami took a battle pose himself and smirked, "There are seven echoes. An echo is a powerful reaper that was erased. When an echo is formed it infuses itself with the noise. Tattoos mark our bodies. They are controlled by the noise within them. Even with a will as strong as yours... you will eventually fall to our will. Okami had a strong will... but he broke. The noise will consume you are full of negative... be it emotion or simply personality. You are filled with the power of the noise. Whether you realize it now or not, you are our ally."

Sho didn't respond immediately. He actually had to pause. "Let me calculate." Sho said crossing his arms and thinking. Okami did. After a moment of silence Sho seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of several factors.

Okami told him, "Take as much time as you like. I am in no hurr-" A fist hit him in the face. Sho punched him and kicked him repeatedly.

Sho told him, "Done calculating, I know how best to kill you, yoctogram." Sho summoned up Taboo noise. The Conductor had resolve. "I've done the math. I may have noise within me or even be part noise... But Taboo doesn't play nicely with other noise. Die radian." Okami just now managed to parry a few blows. The tatoo on his face started to glow as he got in quick sparing match with the conductor.

Both of them were fast, but Sho was faster. Both of them were strong, but Okami was stronger. Sho stayed light on his toes and sent quick volleys of punches and kicks. Okami swung harder and kicked harder. His moves were sloppy, but had a sort of animal grace to them. Sho had to avoid the punches and kicks, which he seemed to be doing very well. They didn't even descend into sending energy blasts at one another. Their punches and kicks were enough. Okami summoned up some noise with a spare moment. The noise attacked the conductor, but he responded with his own noise. The moment Okami summoned his noise and Sho summoned his they both turned into their noise forms.

Sho took the form of leo cantis. The taboo lion king was not to trifled with. But Okami had a noise form as well. Canis cantis looked like a werewolf at the moment. The normal Okami took the form of a wolf, this wasn't the normal Okami. They both went off on an impressive number of attacks. Both were blindingly fast and both were gunning for both each other and each others noise. The perfect noise fought the taboo on equal footing. The taboo were strong, it was difficult to hurt them. The perfect noise could hurt the said taboo with how hard they hit. It seemed like an perfect match: A lion fighting a powerful wolf. Taboo and Perfect noise duking it out. They both roared and were at each others throats... literally.

Both sent each others claws into their opponent. Sho was more or less teleporting around without stopping. Each time he teleported he smacked the enemy noise. Finally Sho managed a powerful strike. A two handed palm strike that set off an explosion when it connected. "Infinity!"

Okami took the hit but managed one of his own at the same time. "Look upon perfection and despair." The monster crossed his arms and seemed to turn activate some kind of defense. The attack exploded and killed all the noise around them. Both of them were now out of their cantis form. Both of them were human again. "So this is an unstoppable force? I think not." Okami went on attacking. He had some sort of ultimate defense move when he went into his wolf form. Sho managed to hit everything except Okami with that attack. Okami and he went to duking it out again.

Although something was different. Something that made Okami smirk one worthy of a coming victory. "It's happening. You're using the power of the noise. You're giving in." Sho growled and managed a hit. A small shred of a tattoo was across the Conductor's face. Common sense guessed that if the tattoo on his face extended across his face fully, he'd be some sort of noise slave. Sho of course wasn't going to let this slow him down. He continued his assault when they went into their noise forms again. Summoning noise the exact same way.

It suddenly dawned on him, Okami was playing defensively. He wasn't even trying to win, he was just letting the noise infect him. It was true he was resurrected long ago by merging with the Taboo noise. Hanekoma might have done something back then so he wasn't controlled by noise. Hanekoma... that was the man who resurrected him in the first place. It was a last ditch effort from stopping Joshua from destroying the city. It didn't work. Now the noise was his opponent. They were trying to take his mind from him, fat chance.

As leo cantis he fought all the same. He attacked again and again, Okami was really good at blocking or taking hits. Occasionally Okami would cross his arms as Sho did a powerful attack, when he did he took a lot less damage. Sho could feel it now. The noise, his own powers were rebelling against him. His attacks became more and more desperate and Okami grew more and more confident. "You're losing control? Even lions can be tamed it seems."

Sho didn't like that comment. He just let his fury out by launching an array of kicks his direction. The monster kept his arms crossed and managed to stop the attacks from hurting him. "My ultimate defense a gift from the noise. You can't win."

The noise both died at the same time turning them back into human form. Okami was tired now and Sho was exhausted. The tattoo on his face was big now and even glowing. "Listen to the noise, let Cacophony sing." Okami told him, "I am not your enemy, Sho. You are one of us, all is forgiven. You are one with the noise. This battle is over. Think a moment. There are echoes far stronger than me. The noise intend to resurrect former Composers and Conductors. This battle is over. You see?"

Sho looked up with a smile worthy of Satan. "It's over. Level_i _flare." Okami's eyes widened and he started to jump back when a blast of white energy went off. In every conceivable way he was hit, inside of him, outside of him... everywhere was exploding. The Conductor wearily got up as the tattoo on his face spread. "I told you before, 'you're out of your vector'."

The supernoise let out a howl and exploded into multi-colored fireworks. Sho turned to see if Kotori was still there, she wasn't. It seemed the noise were trying to erase Kotori, while the angels were trying to erase Shiki Misaki. The angels wanted to destroy Shibuya? Like hell. Sho wasn't going to let that happen. The conductor limped over to the edge of the building his tattoos were glowing more and more straining him to keep control. "Well... I guess I should have calculated this to end of the equation. But I have no regrets. There was no flaw in my math..." That was his way of saying he regretted nothing. Okami's echo was now dead. Somewhere else he could feel other noise forming echoes. Kitaniji still lived. But Sho had a feeling something worse was coming and he had a worse feeling that something bad was about to happen to him.

At that moment a beam shot down from the noise seal in the sky causing Sho to glow with power and his shirt exploded off of him revealing a tattoo all over his body. The noise were taking control. Okami may have been dead, but there was a bigger problem: Sho Minamimoto.

XXXXX

[Back to the present]

"It looks like the noise are really being active." Shiki looked about the area. They weren't usually that active, but she didn't know the difference between normal and unusual at the moment. It was all a big mystery to her. The Director had named a condition early on. If Shiki Misaki was erased then he would erase Shibuya. That was an odd condition. Why was she so important anyway? Even if she had her memories she still would have no idea why the Director made such a ludicrous condition.

Weiss on the other hand was wondering something else. "I think the noise are sending noise at specific targets." Weiss actually was used to seeing on multiple planes at the same time. Must have been that an angel made his eyes to detect multiple planes. But usually planes weren't so muddy and full of noise. The noise had a habit of getting in the way of your perception. "I can barely see, but they're sending the bigger noise after Charon." What made him wonder was just how strong was Charon anyway? Did he fight Neku? Did he hope to beat a Composer? Wait... where was the Composer? Usually Neku kept his power up enough to be sensed by damn near any reaper. Maybe he was hiding? Possible, but if he were hiding or trying to sneak up on something, why?

Shiki looked at her phone and moved ahead, "We're getting close to the mission target, maybe we'll be able to get through this without any issue."

Weiss knew their luck better than that, "I doubt it. I couldn't imagine anything being easy for us. Don't forget we still have to find another target after we find the fox. The mission is still catch the kitty, catch the bunny and catch the fox. After that we need to find and defeat the game master."

Shiki had a fair question, "Do you think we'll be able to beat the game master?"

Weiss almost chuckled at the thought, "Us? Probably we'd have a hard time. But we're getting a lot help."

Shiki asked a fairer question, "Why would the Director say that I couldn't be erased? Why erase all of Shibuya if I'm erased."

Weiss could only speculate at this point. It wasn't easy, but he had a guess. "I think... it's like Joshua. The Director makes rules and conditions. It's like our mission... he might just have made that a condition... or perhaps it's because it's a condition to something else... like playing a game?"

Shiki cocked her head, "Does this Director guy play games? How strong is he?"

Weiss grimaced and begrudgingly told her, "He's just shy of being God... but he's limited by rules and conditions. He has the ability to place rules and conditions on other things. He can put conditions or limiters on anything... it's his job. To put rules up. But the same thing is his problem. He plays by conditions. He won't use his powers unless conditions are met. What they are I have no idea."

Shiki pointed out, "But you said he might be playing a game? Does the Director play games?"

Weiss guessed, "With the Composer maybe? Maybe Joshua was playing a game with him and we're missing a bunch of details. Joshua doesn't exactly tell us everything. But... that doesn't make sense... if Joshua were playing the game. I'd think he'd be a more active player..."

His partner looked at him then ahead, "I don't think there's anyway to know everything that's going on. Here's what we know. The director said I can't be erased. If he does he'll erase Shibuya."

Weiss tried to piece it together, "Well maybe you're just going to be part of a chain reaction. I mean if you were erased that'd effect Neku and your friends. That'd effect me even. Wait... if Neku left the city..."

Shiki guessed, "There'd be no reason not to destroy Shibuya... He's got the Composer power, but he's here because of me, right?"

That was a pretty good guess. If Shiki were erased it'd devastate Neku? Well it'd certainly do a lot. But why would the Director name her safety as a condition? It didn't make much sense. Oh well they didn't have much time. Up ahead was their target.

Kitsune just waited for them like a caged animal. On her face was an expression of worry. Her face looked around nervously as if expecting something terrible to hop out of the shadows.

Shiki came up and looked around. There were no traps and there was nothing waiting in ambush. Hell there were even walls around them that the fox couldn't escape. Kitsune was trapped by barriers covering every exit except one. "This is too easy." Shiki said entering.

Before Shiki entered Weiss felt his eyes widen and his adrenaline kick up. "Shiki NO!" He held his hand out as a barrier appeared between himself and Shiki. The girl turned her body and tried to run to her partner. No good. There was a very powerful barrier in the way. Out of the shadows stepped Charon. He kept his glasses on as he said to Shiki, "You are difficult child to find."

Shiki immediately banged on the barrier. Weiss hit it his hardest with his psyches. It wasn't breaking. After he got tired he gave it a punch. The moment he and Shiki hit the barrier at the same time if vanished. She paused and he gasped. There was no way either one of them had enough power to break a barrier of that fortitude. It was otherworldly strong. How did they break it. "Shiki come on!"

Shiki joined her partner and grabbed his wrist. "He can't make a barrier between us now."

Charon approached and made a barrier behind them instead, "Interesting a fluke causing my barrier to fail, it won't happen again." It was worth noting that both of them hitting the barrier at the same time from different sides made it break. Physics didn't apply in barriers, it wasn't force that break it... the barriers could be brought down if there was the correct key. Neither of them should have any sort of key to open up Charon's barriers.

Hanekoma was erased, he couldn't have done it. The Composer was nowhere to be seen. For all Charon knew Neku could be in another dimension of Florida. He wasn't going to interfere. So what threat was there that'd get in his way? The noise? Perhaps, but they couldn't break a barrier like that. Particularly one of the angel's design. Now Weiss and Shiki were trapped. Behind them was a barrier and behind Charon was a barrier. "You are difficult to corner, Shiki Misaki." He said in this matter of factual tone that didn't sound playful at all.

Shiki turned around and hit barrier behind her. This thing in front of her, what was it? It wasn't human and it definitely wasn't there to hand out friendship cards. Charon was close enough to attack, yet something delayed his strike. Kitsune stood between them with both arms out. "This isn't fair! You're cheating! I should be fighting these players, not you."

Charon responded with a smirk, "You shouldn't be fighting them either. You're not a reaper. You're a player who was nearly erased. Perhaps Hanekoma revived you? He is kind like that isn't he?" He kept walking forward but Kitsune didn't back away. She was definitely scared. The suited man didn't even pull his hands out of his suit pocket. Which at this point looked it'd been through all kinds of crap. The suit looked more like a tattered cloak after the fight with Neku. One might guess that when Charon turned into his human form his suit and his body repaired itself to some degree.

Kitsune whined and shook her head, "Kotori saved my and my partner's life. She infused us with White Noise so we wouldn't be erased... even though should be erased." Kitsune looked behind her at Weiss and Shiki. "Koneko wouldn't want them erased like this. You're not a part of this game."

She was a brave little head of orange. That was for sure. Charon pulled one hand out of his pocket with an effortless chop Kitsune went flying to the side. Then his eyes fixated on Shiki Misaki: his target. "Now you die you confused little girl." He opened his palm to open out an impressive attack.

Weiss got in Shiki's way. "You leave her alone!" Charon raised an eyebrow. The boy went on, "She's right, you aren't supposed to be in this game! Leave us!" Charon kept his attack at the ready, but the look on his face seemed like it was calculating the pros and cons. Weiss wasn't moving, he stood between Charon and Shiki as if he could actually do anything against that monster.

Charon put his palm down a moment. It wasn't out of pity or respect, he didn't attack Shiki for some other reason. "Leave her alone you say?..." There was frustration in his voice.

Weiss looked up a moment and around him, there wasn't anyone else but him in the way, "Yeah, get out of here and leave her alone."

Charon immediately pulled out his phone and turned his body. All the while keeping Shiki in his sights. "I believe your construct body is in my way..." He spoke into the phone the best guess was he was talking to the Agent. That asshole angel who caused a lot of trouble in week 2.

Charon nodded and gave the phone Weiss, "He wants to talk to you."

Weiss reluctantly took the little phone and spoke, "Who is this?"

The Agent on the other end seemed to have a similar curiosity, "I'm the Agent. The angel who you're supposed to take orders from. You're supposed to be helping me, construct. Shiki Misaki is to be erased. Those are my orders."

Weiss got mad, "No! I'm not helping you and I'm not going to let Charon erase Shiki Misaki. Leave us alone!"

Agent sounded miffed, "You pitiful little insect. You're giving me orders? You're trying to tell me what to do? A moment more and I'll give Charon permission to erase you!"

Weiss yelled into the phone, "I don't give a damn about you and your permission and your rules! I'm giving myself orders now! I'm going to protect Shiki! I'm not going to let a scumbag like you tell me otherwise. If you hate orders so much, why are you giving them? You've given me enough orders that I think I deserve one from you, 'Leave us alone'."

Charon took the phone and hung it up. He immediately started walking away with his hands in his pockets. It worked? It worked! Charon was walking away. Weiss relaxed slightly and fought the urge to smile, "It looks like he's leaving. He's really leaving." Charon stopped walking a moment and it made Weiss swallow.

Charon spoke away from them, but he was easy to hear, "I will leave you alone. I will not erase Shiki Misaki." Then everyone felt the 'but' coming. "But if I were to summon a Fallen noise." The demon pointed his hand toward the sky and a burning noise symbol appeared not far above them in the sky. "Then I would be fulfilling my obligation to the Agent and to you. I shall leave you alone. I shall leave, but I shall leave a fallen noise behind. One I have no command over. One that no one commands. If you were to be erased by it, it should not be viewed as a fault of mine. Represent the Fallen, Dragon."

Weiss growled and wondered if he should push his luck, "Charon, dismiss this noise!" Charon was gone and the noise was still coming out. It was a burning dragon. Smoke and power filled the air as the noise came out. The barrier Charon left up was still there. Weiss gave it a kick but it didn't open. Maybe hitting it on both sides was the problem? No, something else was up. Even if they ran from this noise it'd be useless. From what he could see, it could fly. The flying monster appeared out of the burning seal by sending a wall of flame to spread across the area.

Shiki acted quickly, Mr. Mew grew and stopped the flames from hitting the two players. Wait, Weiss was standing by himself, where'd Shiki go? "Shiki?" The girl ran to Kitsune and picked her up by slinging her arm over her shoulder. Shiki ducked behind the corner of a building to dodge the fire sent her way. Shiki saved Kitsune. Weiss found that admirable in a way. Her head barely poked out of the corner of the building side glancing at the smoke dragon.

Weiss used his dash pin to rush past the flames, as he did it seemed the flame died. In fact, all the fire around Mr. Mew vanished too. Everywhere Mr. Mew went flames moved out of his way and died. Weiss had to make a guess that the flames weren't normal flames. Not only that, they were moving out of the way when he used dash. The dragon spit fireballs at them causing the building corner to explode. Weiss tried using a shockwave to block one fireball but it exploded and knocked him against the barrier behind him. The moment he hit the barrier something happened, the barrier preventing them from leaving vanished.

Shiki started running with Kitsune out of the fire and through the barrier that just fell. "How did you do that?" How did he do that? The barrier broke when Shiki and he hit it at the same time, but not when he gave it a kick. Maybe it's because Charon wasn't around to reinforce it?

Shiki and he didn't know, they moved away from the fire. She pointed something else, "Mr. Mew is my psych. None of the flames that are burning on the ground get near him."

Weiss nodded, "When I used dash they got out of my way."

Shiki was good at solving puzzles, "Our psyches. The flames won't spread if we use our psyches." She sent Mr. Mew in to attack the dragon only to have the poor plush doll go flying through the smoke dragon. The doll appeared back to her instantly.

Weiss tried his psych, "Finger of God!" A massive tornado spun across the whole area sucking up the flame and smoke in the area. The moment the flame was gone the dragon was visible. It wasn't hidden by smoke. "Hit it now!" The dragon while solid went flying there way and slammed against a big Mr. Mew. Mr. Mew didn't stop the monster, but it slowed it down enough for Weiss to get a few good hits of a shockwave in. The monster swatted him away after a few hits and went for Shiki. It opened its mouth and spewed fire in her direction. Weiss hoped she wasn't burned and she wasn't.

Enough Mr. Mews to be on the defending side of a football team all got in the way of the fire. After they stopped the attack they went flying toward the dragon each giving it a punch or two. The dragon did nothing but roar. Weiss gathered up his strength and send a light pillar from the sky to hit the monster. Then he tried sending some bolts to hit the thing. Their attacks were working, just not doing enough damage.

"Uhh... Shiki." Weiss said with a worried expression. The monster changed position to attack Weiss this time. The dragon flew down and smashed the ground at which Weiss stood. The poor guy had to a game of whack-a-mole except he was a the mole. He kept avoiding attacks which each completely destroyed the concrete they hit. Shiki sent a giant Mr. Mew to give the thing a punch to the head.

"The fusion pin?" She said uncertain. That seemed like a good idea. But it wasn't charged enough to kill that thing. It took a few more blows then spewed out flame all over again. Weiss did the same as before, a tornado. Except this time the dragon distracted him enough to land on him. It's claw knocked him to the floor and completely covered his body. The dragon weighed very little actually, but it really hurt when it pressed down. The thing now had to deal with Shiki. It turned its head and started firing fireballs in her direction. The girl had no choice but to hide. When she did, the dragon turned its eyes to see Weiss on the ground. It opened its mouth and lunged forward. Before it actually hit the poor lug, a fox/ girl hybrid noise went rushing into the dragon's head. Kitsune was going to die if she fought this monster. She let a volley of attacks at the monsters head. All it did was make it flinch and piss it off. It spewed a river of fire at her in response. She tried to dodge, but there was too much. The girl was hit by the fountain of flame and the dragon didn't stop.

It wasn't doubtful that she had some kind of defense up, but against that much fire she wouldn't last long. The dragon kept at it until something happened: the fusion pin.

"Go, Mr. Mew!"

"Get em, godzilla!"

A Mr. Mew the size of a building appeared and outsized the dragon by about four times. The dragon stopped and tried to send fire at it. But the giant cat sent giant laser beams at the dragon completely devastating it. The dragon was knocked into a building, all the glass on the building shattered. The beams kept hitting it for two dozen seconds. It struggled and whined, but it had no chance of winning now. It was dead. The noise was erased and it exploded into static after being smashed by the giant Mr. Mew.

Weiss got up and he ached. It seemed they beat the dragon noise. The fact Charon could summon monsters that strong frightened him. But at least he wouldn't try to erase them again. Then Weiss found Shiki bent over the little fox girl, which was their target. Weiss noticed what she was looking at: her phone.

_Catch the bunny._

Apparently they did the second of the four tasks they were given. But it didn't feel like a victory. Kitsune may have barely just met them, but she didn't seem like a bad person. She definitely have to stick out her neck for them. By all means she was supposed to be fighting against them. But now it seemed she was being erased. The fire did far too much damage for her to survive. Shiki was trying to give her some comfort. But the fox girl didn't want it, "Shiki, it's alright. Kotori has ways of fixing Koneko and me up like new... So don't... don't cry OK?" The girl vanished into static and Shiki tried not to, but she cried anyway. It was only a few tears worth, but she felt bad, responsible even, for the girls erasure.

Weiss tried his own sense of comfort, "There was nothing more we could do... We tried." Shiki didn't want to hear it, she turned herself away.

"We need to win, Weiss. We need to win." She wiped her face and turned around. Her face was pretty determined.

Weiss let out a half smile, Shiki had grown somehow. She seemed different. All he could do is agree, "Yeah, we have to win. So we will."

After a quick look at the sky Weiss could feel something ominous. The noise seal was still summoning noise it wouldn't be long before they'd have to fight the noise itself. "Shiki... do you think... do you think maybe after this is all over..." The girl cocked her head and waited for him to continue. "Maybe... maybe I could try this friends thing a try?"

The girl gave him a smile like the old Shiki everyone knew, "I'd like that. Neku and I would be happy to have you around. You're a good person."

The boy gave a half smile and shook his head. He believed half of what she said. But right now it wasn't time to think of happy endings to fairy tales. The reality was noise were coming. From the looks of it they were about to cook up something big. They were going to launch a full scale invasion in a few days. It was going to be a war: The Clash. The angels feared it enough to destroy Shibuya rather than go through it. But for the first time in a long time, it felt like they could win.

"Let's go do the rest of the mission." Weiss said not having to fake a smile this time.

Shiki gave a quick nod and said, "Alright!" They both ran off across the street following whatever clues they might find.

Unknown the whole time a figure watched them from the distance, Kitaniji's echo let a faint smile wipe across his face, "You think you won the game? No... Do you think it's all just begun? No... This game has been going on an eternity, you're losing now and you're going to lose when it's over." He looked up at the giving the feeling of a dark premonition. "Do you want me to handle it?"

There was a voice in his head that answered. "I've everything under control. Let them play their little game. Erase what players and reapers you can. We're nearing the last phase, the angels won't stop us this time."

Kitaniji started walking slowly in the other direction, "Then I'll leave everything to you sir. After all... you're the real god of Shibuya." The Echo chuckled a moment before erupting into full fledged laughter. They'd learn to pay attention to the noise soon enough. With the Composer gone, who'd get in their way? It was over.

Week 3, Day 3

Question of the Day: This chapter had a lot of fighting, was it too much?

[Well that one had way too much fighting, I think. But at the end of the day I enjoyed writing it, hopefully you enjoyed reading it. As always I give a thank you to all the readers and I give urgency to give your opinion. Tell me what you thought and I'll see what I can do. I'm heading to work soon, but I was able to post this in time.

PS: I still am and probably will always be hiring editors. Contact me if you're interested/ capable of doing any editing work in exchange for some bucks.]

-0er0 out


	18. Week Three, Day Four: The Angels

[I hope I didn't rush this chapter, but I got a lot of extra free time. Figured I should try to get the last couple of chapters out of my head. The majority of the plot twists will be wrapped up here pretty quick. I encourage any feedback as always. If anyone is interested in editing do let me know. There's probably a mistake or two I missed.

BTW I should probably try to get some beta readers... any takers? PM me!]

XXX

Neku felt tired and battered. His eyes felt dry and honestly he wouldn't be too surprised if he were laying in a puddle right now. Yeah, it was a puddle. "Where the hell am I, the end of the wold?" He barely managed to get up and look around. The puddle he was laying in was full of a gray mud, his clothes were ruined. His body was really tired and weak, but his soul actually hurt. Neku let out a groan as his eyes went up to see that he was in some alien world. It looked like Shibuya actually, but everything was gone. There were no people and all the buildings were broken. Sprinkles of dust could be seen in the wind. Cars were crashed into poles and signs were illegible. "HELLO?!"

The moment Neku shouted a building cracked and came toppling down in front of him. It kicked up a cloud of debris and Neku shielded his eyes as best he could. He didn't feel like he was in good shape. This place looked even worse, "Is this place even Shibuya?... HELLO?!" His eyes went up to the sky and he could see it. The noise seal burning in the sky. This place turned into Silent Hill. Only there was less everything. It didn't look like there were any noise. Neku let out a scan and there was absolute painful silence. It actually hurt him to scan. Neku had never once scanned anywhere in Shibuya and felt death. That's all he felt, everything was gone.

A familiar voice didn't give him any sort of calm, "Neku?... Why are you here?" Joshua walked up wearing his usual getup. The expression on his face wasn't the usual smug though. It seemed to be humbler and full of curiosity.

Neku reached for his throat, but only managed to grab his collar, "You! You're showing your face to me you bastard?!"

Joshua made a surprising comment. He looked into Neku's eyes guiltless. "I hurt you?"

Neku didn't understand. This didn't feel like the Joshua he knew. It felt humbled and broken.

This particular Joshua looked at him with calculation in his eyes. He said something that made Neku let him go, "This isn't the Shibuya you're from. I'm not the Joshua you know. I know it doesn't mean anything coming from me, but I'm sorry for what happened to you." This definitely wasn't the Joshua that Neku knew.

Neku demanded to know, "Then where the hell am I? And who the hell are you, then?"

Joshua looked up at the sky and managed to make a smile seem sad, "I'm the Joshua that didn't fight against the noise. I did nothing... I watched the angels destroy everything. When they were done the noise symbol in the sky set ablaze. The fire is still burning almost as a warning to other noise never to approach again. I'm what's left. A shadow of a Composer." A Composer was a like a captain of a ship, they often went down with it.

Neku paused a moment and looked around, "How do I get back home? Is there some Composer power I can use to get out of this place?"

This new Joshua smirked, "I'm glad my other made you Composer... but I could never approve of the method. Shiki didn't deserve to die and you didn't deserve this. But despite what you may or may not deserve, Shibuya needs you. Don't give up on yourself, Neku."

Neku was a little more irritated than usual seeing Joshua's face, "Give up myself and you give up on the world, right? Well tell me how to get home and I'll get right back to it! Also how the hell do you know what I went through?!"

The other Josh sounded like the original for the first time, "I've been watching you, silly. I'll tell you how to get back, but first I need you to understand."

Neku was getting mad, he needed to go NOW. "I don't have time for this bull-"

Other Josh held up a hand and told him, "There is a game being played now. Much like you were playing on behalf of the Composer, there's a game being played above him. There are rules to the game and I want you to know the stakes."

A vision hit Neku of noise flooding Shibuya. A figure stood behind them like a general who embraced victory. The noise terrorized everything destroying all they touched. Normal people were possessed by noise and their faces covered in noise seals. He heard screaming and it didn't sound like a person but Shibuya. The noise infected Shibuya to the point where it cried out to die. At that moment the angels appeared. The power they had would have surpassed the noise if it weren't for that noise leader. The noise leader was foggy and difficult to see, but it definitely wasn't human. It was humanoid, but it had no face. When it spoke it sounded like thousands of misplaced sounds all speaking in unison, "I am Cacophony. The time is up and the game is over."

Almost immediately in response to this godlike power of noise came another power that far more than its match. It was the Director. He looked almost like the Composer. He was all white and fluttery, but his power seemed infinite. The humans in the street looked up to the Director as if he were going to save them. That wasn't what he was there for. The angels seemed surprised their leader showed up at all, **"The game is over."** He looked at the city with disdain. **"Shibuya cries out in pain, wishing death upon itself. There shall be nothing that shall live here again. Nothing shall survive, not human nor noise. The very last rat and insect will be purged." **What happened after that was the angels vanished leaving only the Director to flood the city in white light. Everything vaporized, the noise and the life. The Underground was completely destroyed. The city was completely destroyed and there was nothing left. Only the buildings remained. After all the destruction only the Director and Cacophony remained.

Cacophony sounded like thousands of sounds that didn't match at all going off at the same time. It was difficult to understand him, "So it ends. The game and the city. Although the victory belongs to you in name, there is no victory to be had here." The power of that noise made Shibuya look like a pebble against a mountain. With a glance the noise seal above him set ablaze, "I go and shall return in another place. We shall play again until the end of time."

The Director vanished as well leaving the city completely empty. Completely empty except for Joshua. Who was now showing Neku what happened. Neku gasped for air after what he saw. What was that? Was that real? Yes, yes it was. "That noise god... and the leader of the angels were playing a game?" Neku looked at Joshua for answers.

This Joshua nodded and told him, "They played a game for Shibuya. If the Director won, then Shibuya would be destroyed. If the noise won the game then they'd keep Shibuya for themselves and spread across the world."

Neku couldn't let either happen, "Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!

Joshua remained calm, but at one time shared his outrage. "We fight the noise ourselves. I gave the warning to others one of them was the Joshua you know. He went too far, but... he's trying to avoid something terrible." This Joshua took a moment to explain further, "I wanted you to know what you were fighting to avoid. I wanted you to see why we shouldn't let Shibuya be destroyed. Nothing will be left and even if you survive, you could never forgive yourself."

Neku wasn't as angry now, but in another way he was angrier. It felt weird, like part of him found peace but another was madder. "I need to get back. Can you do it?"

Joshua looked up into the sky as if he had succeeded at something, "There's things I don't understand. I don't know the rules to the game the Director is playing. But he's given you a hint. If Shiki is erased he will win and in so doing he will destroy Shibuya. He will not risk the noise having even the possibility of victory. He's more powerful than the noise, but he's bound by rules... as is that noise god. The noise is using avatars instead of fighting you personally. If you can manage to beat all those Echoes, then you'll have a chance."

Neku was in a hurry, "We're still wasting time. I need to get back as soon as possible."

The other Josh liked his dedication, "I've been building up what power I can to send you back. My power is diminished, but luckily I have a little help." Joshua motioned behind him and there was Hanekoma. He didn't look any different.

Hanekoma smirked at Joshua and let him know, "I wondered why you called me back here. Now I know why." The man touched Neku's shoulder, "Don't worry chief. I'll get him home."

Joshua smiled and gave a thank you. Everything went started going black for Neku like he was passing out. "Whenever you jump between dimensions you lose some time. It could be days or hours, but we'll get you back where we can. Good luck Neku. Don't give up on yourself."

Neku started to fade into the blackness and he was gone. Leaving Joshua to stand there alone in the city. Neku was going home, but hopefully it wouldn't be too late.

XXX

Week 3 Day 4: The Angels

Weiss woke up first and blinked a bit. Shibuya felt way different. It felt like a victim of a disease barely holding on. Chaos was coming. It wasn't but hours away. Weiss had to hurry and so did Shiki. Wait, where was Shiki? Was she up already? Weiss got up and started running, he turned the corner to see Shiki talking to a tall man who was an obvious noise. "Good morning, Weiss. I have taken the liberty of tracking who you seek. You catch the bunny next? That is your task is it not?"

Weiss grabbed Shiki's hand and pulled her away from him. "Kitaniji, you're helping us too?"

Shiki managed to wring her wrist away from Weiss long enough to show him something. "Yeah he's helping, for now we've got the same motivation. The noise don't want the city to be destroyed either so they're helping us."

Weiss of course didn't expect noble reasons, "You want something to destroy for yourself."

Kitaniji chuckled, "No, Shibuya is too great a trophy to destroy. We intend to make it a safe haven for noise. We shall let all the humans in the city flee and live. I'm sure you'll find that more acceptable than the Director destroying us all."

Shiki actually caught on to why, "Yeah but the noise can spread faster to other areas that way. You want more than Shibuya, you want the world."

Kitaniji cocked his head, "Want the world? You misunderstand. Humanity and noise do not hate one another, in fact they thrive off one another and coexist. We need humans to survive, they give off the negative emotion that noise feed on. As for noise, causing you to suffer? No children, that is merely a side effect of overpopulation. When there are too many humans in one place by proxy there are too many noise. Noise will cause no noticeable damage if they were more spread out. I think our real enemies are the angels, they always have been. They are the ones who make rules and dictate common behavior as evil. Why is it that you were born in sin and are expected to pay for it? I can understand you might see them as justice, but in reality the noise are far more fit to rule this world."

Weiss had trouble believing that all of that was truth. The angels were trying to prevent something terrible. Either way he had a point about Shibuya being destroyed. The method of 'saving' a city needed to change. The Director's way was wrong. Hell, this wasn't any different than before. There was a game being played over Shibuya being erased. Only instead of it being a Composer against the Conductor. It was something bigger. Maybe Joshua destroying it would have done some good, maybe it would have made it possible to rebuild? No, there's a reason he didn't destroy it back then. He saw Neku change and by that logic so could Shibuya. If Shibuya could change, maybe there was another way around this.

Shiki didn't get distracted, "At least we'll take your advice. I'm hoping it's good information."

Kitaniji nodded at her, "I won't interfere further, I know of your power Miss Misaki. I won't cross you twice. However know that your opponent is formidable. Kotori is the Game Master. Her noise form is a rabbit. So odds are that she is the bunny. Catch her then defeat her. That is what information I can offer. The rest I must leave in your capable hands." He took a bow then turned to leave. He almost forgot, he had one more thing to say, "Oh yes, I need to ask, how did you escape Charon? Is he still a threat?"

Shiki looked at Weiss hoping he'd know. "Umm... is he?"

Weiss didn't really have a clue, why did he leave them alone in the first place. It was after the demon made a phone call that he left. "I told him to leave us alone and he did..." Weiss seemed to come to some sort of realization.

Kitaniji made a single comment about it, "Apparently you still have some sort of seniority over him. How curious."

Weiss flipped up his phone and could see that Kotori sent them their hint. It was a location as usual. Apparently it was at some sort of convention in Molco. Normally it'd be really really hard to find her, but with the way things were now. The place was probably trashed and no one was actually showing up. With any luck it'd be really really easy to find Kotori and finish the game.

Shiki asked a fair question, "I know I should have asked this earlier... but what's so special about day four?" Kitaniji was gone. If the game against the reapers was done, what was next? The Clash? The noise? Oh crap, they were going to have to fight the noise next.

XXX

The first thing anyone would notice about Shibuya today was that it looked like everything was falling apart. Somehow everyone in the city seemed to be ignoring it. There were a select few who thought they were going crazy. Anyone who played in the game previously or anyone with just powerful spiritual awareness were the only people with any sense of what was happening. The people did not panic, they did not acknowledge one another they just kept working, going to school and doing their daily lives. There was a look on their face like they were in some sort of trance.

_Nothing is wrong._

_Everything is fine._

_Embrace the end._

_Let Cacophony sing._

This made it really REALLY hard to find a single person in a crowded area. Kotori had picked some sort of convention going on in Molco. It had a lot of space for events for pop culture events. Weiss and Shiki both felt a sense of wrong when they entered. A lot of people showed up for a culture event when the city was literally falling apart. The streets were cracking, signs were falling down and static was on all the TVS. Every so often a screen would flicker a warning with an hour countdown. The game ended then? Most likely.

Shiki looked around with a little worry, "We need to find Kotori in this mess? Are you sure we can't scan?"

Weiss was definitely sure, "The noise are too thick to scan anything. Everyone is possessed by noise. What's weird is that everyone everywhere is solid to us... but it's almost the same as being a player. Everyone is in this weird trance so... instead of just ignoring us they're ignoring everything."

Shiki was really really surprised to see someone. It wasn't Kotori, but it was something that surprised her all the same: Eri. She was older now and from one might assume the girl could turn a head or two. Shiki was quick to hide behind Weiss as the girl glanced around. Weiss of course had no idea what she was doing. It took a moment to click mentally. She looked just like Eri only younger.

"That's your friend right?" Weiss asked pointing.

Shiki only made a slow nod, unsure of why she felt shame. It was embarrassing to look exactly like someone else and know the reason why is because you were jealous. It's WAY more embarrassing when that said person sees you.

Eri approached, "Please tell me you two are sane."

Weiss couldn't really comment, "Well... we're not in the trance if that's what you mean."

Eri kept shifting her head so she could get a good look at Shiki. It looked like it was her sister from her eyes. "Who is that?" Eri cocked her head pointing at a blushing little version of herself.

Weiss scratched the back of his head, "Well that's Shiki. It's a long story how she ended up like this."

Shiki squeaked a little and didn't know what to say. What are you supposed to say when you were jealous of someone a long time ago only now you have no idea what they think of you. Shiki had to try to say something, "We're... we're still friends right?"

Eri caught on unnaturally fast, "This is a part of that game. The reapers game! What did they do to you?" She seemed to accept the fact it was Shiki pretty quickly. It may have been that she was clutching Mr. Mew.

Weiss had to interrupt, "Sorry, but this is important. Have you seen a lady with orange hair and purple eyes?"

Eri stopped a moment, "I could help you find her. Why? Will it help Shiki?"

Shiki didn't understand fully, but Eri was still her friend? After all those years? How much time did Joshua take away? "We're in the reapers game... Joshua reverted me to how I was before I met Neku... That was my price."

Eri stopped and pointed, "I saw a lady with orange hair go into a store further up. Where's Neku and the others?"

Weiss didn't know and the look on his face said so. "Neku is doing something really important. There's a pissed off demon who's trying to erase Shiki and there's an officer level reaper who's our opponent."

Eri found that hard to believe, "What are demons really tough or something? Wait... How did you get a pissed off demon after you?!"

Weiss again didn't know, "I'm just trying to help Shiki make it to the end of the game. Neku is probably going to get everyone he can out after that. The noise are reaching critical mass, in a few hours Shibuya is going to become a really one sided warzone.

Eri kept following them as they moved. "Shiki how do you know this guy anyway?"

Shiki kinda managed a half smile, "Well I don't really. Honestly Neku said something about him being an angel. But he's a human."

Weiss rolled his eyes, "I'm not sure what I am. I just didn't want to see Shiki get erased. I didn't get a lot of time to think about it. I may not be the best person to be partnered with her, but I'm going to try."

Eri found him interesting, "Yeah, you're human alright. Every guy has an instinct to run and save a girl in distress." She gave him a wink and all it did was make Weiss go cross-eyed.

Weiss groaned a little as he ran, "Oh... so it's because I'm a boy is it?"

Eri thought it obvious, "Although Shiki's engaged so I'd try your luck with some other girl."

Weiss actually thought of Nanami for a moment. Then he dismissed the thought for a while. In truth Nanami and he didn't really know each other that well. But there was something about her that made him feel: … different. It was hard to explain.

Shiki caught a glimpse of Kotori walking around in Molco. "There she is!"

Eri readied herself by making a number of energy needles appear. On each of them were attached some type of glowing string. Eri went ahead and told Shiki, "You know Shiki, you may have been jealous of my appearance once but... I'm still to this day jealous of your talent as a seamstress. I guess that's why my psych is a needle and thread."

Weiss was a little surprised, "She can use psyches too?"

Eri thought that was an odd comment, "Everyone who's unaffected by that noise trance can use psyches now. I can't pretend to know why."

Kotori who should not have been close enough to hear that told them, "It's because the UG and RG are merging. Soon noise will attack the Realground. They've already infected the Underground. I'm glad to see that Shiki is still well."

Eri just seemed to vanish behind them the moment Kotori showed up.

Shiki readied herself for battle too, "You're the Game Master. You're shouldn't be wishing us well."

Kotori took a few steps forward and cocked her head, "But you have you ever wondered? Have you really thought it through? I have heard of you Weiss. From many sources. You say you had an angel controlling you? Using you as a puppet? Was he using you as a puppet the whole time?"

Weiss frowned, "No, he wasn't controlling me the whole time. He just controlled me during the second week. Then he tried to kill me after. Tried to get the Conductor to finish me off when he left."

Kotori blinked a few times, "Did he leave at the same time Joshua did? Did he show up the moment Joshua made a pact with you?"

Weiss didn't think about it, but yeah. Actually that's exactly what happened. "What does Joshua have to do with this?"

Kotori smiled and told him the truth, "I don't know actually. But I do know that the Composer and that angel draw from a similar power do they not? Perhaps it was that very circumstance that lead to the angel being able to appear. When Joshua died and left Neku with his powers... the agent left you behind. Is that true?"

Shiki actually was now looking at Weiss expectantly. She didn't catch everything they were talking about, but she was catching a connection between Joshua and that angel. It's like he wanted the exact opposite as Joshua, Joshua was an extremist to save the city and the Agent was an extremist to destroy it.

Weiss thought about it himself, "But what he said made sense. I was nothing but a human doll made to gather data on Shibuya. My personality is something he made up. I'm what he called a construct. Something an angel can possess at any time."

Kotori and Shiki caught the bull at the same time but Kotori spoke first, "Then why didn't he take over you sooner? Why isn't he taking over you now? He wants to erase Shiki, why hasn't he used you to do it? He can't. Face facts."

Shiki agreed, "I don't know this Agent. But I do know that you're not him. He wanted you to be erased right? He wants you out of his way, because you're not doing what he wants. If he could control your personality or take over your body he would have."

Weiss came upon a realization, "No angel has that power... Angels don't have the power to make a body... he couldn't have done it."

Now before they could talk further on this subject they were interrupted by a number of visitors. Beat came running in with Rhyme slung over his shoulders. Behind him were Kariya and Uzuki. They immediately hopped up past a huge group of people straight to Weiss and Shiki. When they did they vanished almost like they left the zone they were in. Beat yelled from afar, "Yo! Where's Neku?! We gotta get my sister help, dammit!"

Before Weiss could answer Beat ran close enough to vanish. Again, it looked like he simply left the zone they were in. Kotori actually explained, "Oh, I forgot to mention that due to the way my price works... they cannot interact with me in any way since they are all involved with Neku. You two are an exception due to the fact you're playing a game. Speaking of this, do you have any idea where the bunny is?"

They had more than an idea and Shiki let everyone know, "Your noise form is the rabbit! You're the bunny!"

Kotori smirked at that a little, "I'm surprised you learned about that. I wonder where you came across such information?"

Weiss readied himself and an apology, "Sorry Kotori, I don't think you're a bad person... You keep trying to help people in your own way. But you're still the game master and we're still players. We need to beat you to end this game and win Shiki's price back."

Kotori looked up at the ceiling and shut both eyes, "I suppose her price does mean more than mine in actuality. I suppose I could live the rest of my life without seeing him or him knowing of me... but I'm selfish. I want to talk to my son, even if he couldn't forgive me. At least him knowing I exist would suffice! Defend yourself!"

The woman slowly raised a hand as you could visibly tell she wasn't going to hold anything back. Both of her reaper wings were out and they weren't black, they were white and fluttery. But still the same basic design as a reaper. Instead of a noise form. Her regular getup changed to this elegant white costume that actually suited her in a way. It made her look less like a barbie dressed by a nine year old. Her powers seemed to change form as well, instead of the usual destructive power she traded it in for a more angelic version of what a lot of reapers did.

Unlike a lot of reapers who were fighting to survive or just they liked it. Kotori had a reason, one she wouldn't give up on. It was more important than her life. It showed in the way she presented herself. The look on her face suggested she didn't have a second thought about erasing them. On the other hand it looked like it didn't matter if she herself was erased. It was as if she left fate to the cards, whoever won would get to see Neku. That to her was worth fighting for.

_Defeat the Game Master_

Long Dream

/watch?v=bnt-SEg9J9Y

At the start of the battle Weiss and Shiki went to different zones. Kotori started on Shiki's side and started the battle off with a simple statement, "An angels wings are a reflection of their soul, what color are yours I wonder?" With that she summoned up a number of White Noise in Weiss' zone. Modified noise? Definitely not normal, they were warped by Kotori's power. It wasn't too different than what Okami or Sho did. Although this was cleaner than Sho's and less sloppy than Okami's. They did seem less powerful than normal noise though. Their power wasn't in their defense or offense, but their special abilities. These noise definitely took time to make, by their build.

Weiss had for a while been unable to see much in other planes due to the sheer power of the coming noise. He tried his best to look into the mechanics of the White Noise. He told his partner while she was in the other zone, "These aren't modified the same way our other opponents did. These ones are modified to the point they're not really noise anymore. They don't feed off of negative energy." There was only one way to see more about them: fight them himself.

Shiki on her end was up against a very powerful reaper. Kotori did as normal reapers did, only the energy they left off was different. It was like something the Composer or an angel could do. She managed attacks that looked fluttery and white. The first were two flaps of those reaper wings of hers letting off tiny strands of feather. The feathers glided around her a moment before she thrust a palm forward sending all of them toward Shiki. Shiki was light on her feet, but this was rough. Mr. Mew couldn't stop them all. Even when he got in the way, the feathers were like leaves in the wind. Any resistance and they all glided around it. Then Shiki tried something else. She had Mr. Mew not get in the way, but smash the ground near her. The force from the attack actually sent the strands of feather in different directions. When the feathers touched something there was a flash of light and a small explosion.

Weiss had the exact opposite problem, these noise weren't attacking him at all. But he had a feeling he needed to beat them. When he tried to attack the noise they either tried to move out of the way or just took the attack with no resistance. The mink noise swirled around and avoided psych attacks. The bear noise just took the attack and stood there. The bat noise flew higher up to avoid a lot of psyches. They didn't bother attacking, none of them did. There was only one hint that Weiss caught out of that. The bear wanted to be hit, the others didn't. Was there a correct order to killing them? Weiss went for the mink first since it seemed to be the one that avoided him best. He used his rush psych to get close and the moment the mink tried to twirl he hit it with a well placed shockwave. The mink didn't have much in the ways of health. The moment the mink died it had an effect. It boosted the health of all the other noise in the zone and summoned up a replacement, a penguin.

The moment the mink died something happened on Shiki's end. Kotori's attacks got weaker and Shiki actually managed to land a hit. The moment Shiki did hit Kotori, it did damage, but it caused another noise on Weiss' end to appear. Shiki took a guess, "Weiss, if you beat a noise on the other side she gets weaker!"

Weiss sent a single bolt at the penguin to see what it would do. The penguin slid towards the attack and sent all projectiles going the other way. The bear noise just stood there as the projectile got sent in his direction. The bear definitely didn't mind getting hit. The penguin could reflect attacks, but he'd aim not at the player but at the bear noise. Weiss turned his attention to the bat. He sent a pillar of light to come crashing down on the poor thing. The mink did something to it to make it more durable? Whatever, after a twister it was easy enough to slice up. The moment the bat died the other two noise received a power boost. All the nearby noise started radiating some sonic vibration dealing damage to all near them. It wasn't terribly strong, but if you got near them you'd definitely get hurt. Weiss formulated a strategy, "Every time you kill a noise over here they get stronger! But it makes Kotori weak enough to hit her with something strong!"

Shiki did just that. Kotori sent wind and energy blades at. Shiki had trouble dodging them until one of the noise died. The moment she lost a noise, she kept shooting energy blades, but there was no wind slowing her down. Mr. Mew went charging into Kotori and smashing the reaper against the wall. The moment that happened another white noise appeared on Weiss' zone and Kotori got her full powers back.

It was a puzzle! Kotori didn't have much in the ways of defense if you actually managed to hit her. But if you actually managed to hit her it would summon yet another white noise. With every white noise that died, they'd do something worse to the person fighting them. "If one is alive too long it might become an issue to handle. If one dies it can't keep the power boost. You need to kill the noise that's lived the longest!"

That info was good for a moment until Kotori switched zones with them. Kotori now tried her hand on Weiss and pulled one more nasty trick, she summoned a fourth noise in Shiki's zone. This time a jellyfish and a wolf. Making four, crap! She could bring out more of those things?! It got worse, she could hit harder the more noise there were. If they didn't beat her fast enough they'd have to fight more noise and when they did she'd deal more damage. Shiki figured the same thing, "The more noise are alive, the more powerful she gets! When we kill a noise they get stronger! The more there are the more trouble!"

Weiss went on the offensive, he actually managed hits on Kotori, but they weren't very effective. Probably why Shiki was being defensive. He was hitting her for about a tenth of what he should be doing. But her attacks were just as deadly. He'd have an opening to hit her really hard if Shiki could kill a noise. But every time she did, the noise would get stronger. The cycle was viscous, but so they needed to be more so. Weiss dashed around avoiding feathers that exploded and energy blades. When Weiss tried to do a shockwave, Kotori sent him flying back by clubbing him with her wing. Shiki needed to hurry.

So she did. The problem was that there was a wolf noise chasing her around that did nothing but tackle her in an attempt to keep her preoccupied. The wolf did no damage it just kept jumping and trying to knock Shiki over. The jellyfish just sat there in wait. But unlike the other noise, it caused lightning bolts to strike down at random. The lightning actually did damage, which wasn't that bad except the wolf kept trying to pin Shiki down. They did manage to get her hit by a single lightning strike, but they forgot Mr. Mew. The cat went flying towards the penguin noise and completely tore it up. There was the mild issue of the penguin giving the other noise some new ability, in this case a move to reflect some of the damage you deal to them.

The moment the penguin was erased, Kotori got weaker as expected. Weiss hit her with a pillar of light and it did a lot more damage than usual. Kotori took the hit and got up. What they were doing was definitely working. There was climbing difficulty, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle.

Kotori stepped it up and summoned a replacement noise and a fifth noise, a bird and a mole. Then she switched zones, causing Weiss to deal with all five noise and Shiki to deal with Kotori. "Don't let up!" Weiss encouraged Shiki as best as he could before a bird swiped one of his pins. The mole just moved up and down making him difficult to hit. The bear from the beginning had been amassing a lot of special abilities, it might have been a good idea to kill it. It was radiating sound that did damage, it could reflect some attacks, it had more health, but it wasn't quite deadly enough for Weiss to say he should die first. Although what bothered him was what if one of the other abilities it gained was a more offensive one. That'd make it hard. Killing him now would be ideal before he became impossible to handle.

Kotori probably couldn't take much more of this either. It was about time to end it. He rushed the bear and avoided what lightning strikes he could. The way he was moving now was starting to get close to how Neku was in his third week. The only reason he knew was because Kotori told him before she went to Shiki's zone, "You move about as he did, now." He being Neku, he being the reason she was fighting. Shiki had a reason to fight, Kotori had a reason to fight... what was he fighting for?

Did it matter? Hell no. That bear noise was going to die. Weiss started off by hitting it with a number of shockwaves. He received some damage as backlash. Lightning struck from the jellyfish. He couldn't use his heal pin, the bird stole it. All that mattered was killing the bear fast enough. The bear didn't fight back, it just took it with a gaze of indifference. Weiss hopped back before the soundwave it gave off from the bat got too much. He hit it with a light pillar and sent it flying into the air with a tornado. His psych work was getting masterful, the bear took a rush attack and a number of shockwaves before it finally went down. When it did an explosion went off. The explosion was strong enough to let even Shiki feel it in another zone.

Shiki wasn't holding up well herself. Kotori was clever, had more psyches and honestly a lot more experience. Even if Shiki had her old memories with Neku this would have been hard. Shiki still managed to impress at every dodge of an attack. The girl was surprisingly nimble and good at dodging what now was shards of crystal spiking out of the ground. When Weiss beat the bear, Shiki felt it. It hurt Weiss a lot more than her. But Kotori still slowed down and her abilities were weakened. One more hit. Shiki didn't even have to order Mr. Mew to react. He seemed to blast Kotori with an impressive combo. Kotori coughed and held herself together, but barely. "Time to end this." Kotori said unable to summon more noise. Instead she caused all of her white noise to self destruct. The explosion hit Shiki and Weiss at the same time.

Kotori rose and Shiki fell. Weiss appeared in the same zone. He and Shiki looked in pretty bad shape. "You have attrition." Kotori said brushing some hair out of her face. Then turning her back on them both, "But you should know when you're beaten." Kotori had enough energy to send more attacks their way, but she didn't.

Shiki looked up tried her best to push herself up. Weiss was out? Seemed that way. Shiki had to try to fight the Game Master herself. Kotori seemed somewhat surprised, "Your partner is beaten, you can't fight anymore. Your psyches are at their limit."

Shiki cared to interject, "We're not erased. We're not beaten." It was tempting to ask Kotori why she hadn't attacked yet. But it was best not to give any ideas. Shiki just stood up with one hand on her elbow. Mr. Mew got up too, but he looked tired. Kotori tried to send a bolt at Shiki, it was really weak in comparison to her usual attacks, but enough to finish off Shiki. The plush doll jumped up and swatted away the attack. Then Kotori took the hint and sent another bolt. It too was knocked away. Again and again she shot. Each time she failed in some way or another.

Kotori exhaled a moment and shut both eyes. Two hands went up, one on Shiki and one on Weiss. "Choose." The game master sent a shot at them both. Mr. Mew was ordered to save Weiss. And Shiki did her best to jump out of the way of the attack, no such luck. The bolt was aimed right at the floor and the explosion sent Shiki flying away from her partner. Kotori didn't waste time, she walked up to Weiss and pointed her finger at the back of his head, "I don't want to erase anyone... but... if this is going to end. One of us has to be beaten."

Weiss turned his head up to look her in the eyes for a moment. His eyes were gold and his hair looked like it was having a static discharge. He snapped out of it. Whatever that was, woke him up. He managed to see Kotori pointing a finger at him and instead of dodging he whipped out a fusion pin. "I don't want to erase anyone either, but that's the game."

The fusion pin went off, Weiss and Shiki started glowing and seething power. They reached a sort of harmony that could only be reached at the final fusion level. Mr. Mew grew to a monstrous size and hit Kotori dead on with two streams of energy. One for each eye. There was no explosion, only white. The sound of static and silent resolve rung throughout the area. They beat the Game Master. Kotori was done.

Somehow Kotori had survived, but her body was covered in static. Her eyes were in misery. "I suppose this is the only way it could end. Neku needs you Shiki... You're strong... you're stronger than you'll ever know. I think you and Neku will be fine." A sweet smile managed across the reapers face before finally hitting the floor. The static continued a moment; both Shiki and Weiss managed the strength to get up. The fusion pin managed to heal them at least a little. But it looked like Kotori was just about done for.

Kotori's vision blurred for a moment. Her hand reaching for a light above, Shiki didn't know what to do and Weiss was even more confused. They just got a good person killed. What do you say at moments like this? More importantly what do you do? Do you just watch? Do you look away? Do you try to help her? Shiki looked at their timer and phone. It was over, they won. Victory felt terrible.

"You... you were Neku's mother. Your price was that you couldn't interact with your son." Weiss said suddenly with mild tears welling up in his eyes. It was so obvious and simple. He didn't notice before, but suddenly it was like a mental block had been lifted. He realized it, "You were working for Joshua to get your price back... you could get it back when this game was over. You wanted him to know you exist." Weiss felt terrible, this was his doing too.

Kotori laughed a little while more of her faded, "Joshua showed Neku mercy. I was pregnant when I played the reaper's game... He was my price then. I lost. Joshua used his authority to spare my existence long enough to give birth to Neku. After that I died. I became a reaper... I couldn't ever be seen by my son, that was my price. Never to be returned. I could have been erased there..."

Shiki didn't buy that Joshua did that out of mercy, Shiki didn't fight back any urge to let herself cry. There's no telling what Shiki felt, but erasing Kotori didn't feel good. This was all Joshua's fault. "He did that to take advantage of you! He did that so he could use you for something like this!"

Kotori took a look at Shiki, her body changing back to what it used to be. Her price was returning to her, "It's up to you... watch over my son... I won't get to tell him myself, so tell him for me. Tell him I tried. Dammit I tried." The woman more or less accepted death at that point. But something kept her alive.

"Screw that." It was Neku's voice. Heads turned and behind him was the whole gang. Beat, Rhyme, Eri and even reapers were there. Neku took slow strides over to where Kotori stood and put his hand near her head. "I'm Composer now and you're gonna damn well live your life." An orange glow shot out from his hand and caused Kotori to glow for a moment. It actually wasn't as impressive as it looked to bring someone back from death. It was just a quick glow and it was over. There was a moment of silence all around. It had been done, it was over.

Neku knelt down to give her a hand up. Instead of taking it she hugged him and cried. She didn't look much older than Neku thanks to being a reaper so long. Kotori looked more like a sister or something, but she cried as only a mother could. It was a mix of sad and happy. Neku turned his eyes towards Shiki, she was back to normal. They had everything they needed, they had everyone's price back. There was only one more loose end to fix.

He turned behind him to see Rhyme. She was next on his list. "I need to help Rhyme." He told his mother knowing full well who she was now. Her price was hers again, finally. Neku got up and walked towards Beat who laid Rhyme down where Neku could get to her. She was barely holding on herself. "Don't worry she won't die." He told Beat this as he bent over to do the same with Rhyme. She had been nearly killed by the Noise Konishi.

Almost perfectly timed, Rhymes eyes opened up before Neku did anything. She grabbed Beat by the throat and threw the blonde skater at the Composer. It was surprising enough and fast enough neither one them had any idea what was going on. Her face had a noise seal on it and the smile on her face didn't belong to her. The facial expression was smug and confident, "I believe we told you earlier..." She said in a mostly distorted voice, "To make an echo all one needed was to take someone who was erased. Someone who became a noise... someone who had died before. Did it occur to even one of you that Rhyme was both of these things? Did you not even once think this? You seem surprised." The noise Rhyme did a girly smile that mimicked the real thing.

When she did this everyone wisely took a step back. The noise Rhyme apologized, "I'm sorry I interrupted a tender moment... I was hoping you wouldn't try anything until the angels arrived." Her attention went to Kariya who took a swing at her with an energy palm strike. She nimbly avoided it and sent him flipping in another direction, "Well I wasn't going to fight any of you. How could I?... At least not yet..." Her grin turned malicious and her body language more lax. Definitely not a countenance Rhyme usually took.

Kitaniji appeared next to her, "Your game is over now. The day is done, is it not? The game-master was defeated, the prices were returned. Could even the Director counter the fact that the game is over?"

Beat was about to pummel his ass when Neku grabbed his shoulder, "No."

Beat didn't take that, "You ain't takin' my sister!"

Kitaniji kept his usual calm smile and side stepped as Rhyme butted her knee into his ribs. It hurt, but his face didn't show it. Immediately Kitaniji placed his hand on Rhyme's head, "She fit the conditions... admittedly not chosen for her power, but as a trading card. It will be difficult to purge the noise within her without erasing her. Although I wouldn't worry about us first. I would worry most about yourselves. The angels are coming and if I were you I wouldn't resist."

The supernoise left by using some sort of time manipulating teleport. Leaving the whole group to stand in silence. The silence didn't last long, Uzuki was the first to talk, "OK... what just happened."

Kariya was happy to explain, "She was barely hanging on, so it gave the noise a chance to abuse that. To make an Echo the conditions are they must have had a noise form and they must have been erased in the past. Based on that they put you back together... and... Rhyme kinda fit the bill." Kariya wasn't going to talk about the specifics on how she actually got erased, because that would quickly turn into a conversation about him being one of the people who did it.

Beat of course was about to sprint in the first direction he could, "We're going after her and I ain't walkin!" Eri tripped him before he got too far. The look on her face was condescending.

She began her explanation, "Think about where you're going before you go there."

Beat got up and was about to dash again, "Hell wit dat! You guys do the thinkin' I'll do the lookin'!" He started running again before being tripped again. This time by a familiar but unfriendly face: Agent.

Agent didn't look like Weiss now, his hair was different and he looked about five years older. He was wearing a white suit and some silver glasses, "Oh sorry, my foot was in the wrong place. How could you ever forgive me?" The sarcasm matched Joshua's. What the hell? Another unnecessary farce? Didn't enough happen every three minutes? "But I was sent here to collect you all. Except for you, Eri. You can stay where you are." His finger pointed at her and made a type of reaper barrier around Eri.

The moment he made the barrier Neku hit it. He didn't hit it lightly either. It was enough power to shatter just about any that could be broken. "Why are you here, I thought you couldn't come here on your own. That's what Weiss was for."

Weiss gulped and looked at Agent with a sense of fear and hatred. That smug bastard was glaring at him behi "Well I would, but there's the little issue of him not being as malleable as he was. It's a little strange I'll admit. But nothing that can't be handled. The Director will see you now. All of you."

Shiki's eyes turned angry, "And what if we don't want to see him?! I've had enough of angels and Composers!"

The Agent just rolled his eyes, "Would it make you feel any better to know that my very presence here pains me?..." He was probably referring to the fact humans annoyed him, "Regardless, the Director will see you. Your wishes on the matter are irrelevant. I'm here to take all necessary parties to the angel plane... there's just... one more thing." He pointed his hand at Kariya and Uzuki. "They're not coming. No reapers." Kotori, Kariya and Uzuki were blown back by some sort of light pulse. "And I think we're ready."

Beat moved in to punch him, only after a flash of light there was nothing to punch. They were standing in some bright area, way too bright actually. The floor was crystal and the air was full of a foggy substance that could choke noise. It wasn't negative energy, it was the opposite. Agent was still there, but he wasn't in a human form anymore. You could tell it was him, but there wasn't a body.

Beat, Shiki, Neku and Weiss were all in the angel plane. Neku looked at his hands and noticed that he looked younger, like he did did years ago playing the reapers game. "Why do I look younger?"

Joshua appeared to answer, "It's a side effect of losing your Composer powers. Think of it as your body regressing with your powers. It's why I never looked like an adult to you. When you enter a physical body you regress-" Joshua didn't manage to get more words out before Neku hit him in the face and then the stomach.

Neku wanted to do more, "You killed Shiki! Killing you once is too good for you!"

**"Enough."** That voice sounded human but unfamiliar.

Joshua immediately fell to one knee and pulled Neku down to do the same. "That's the Director... Our boss." He sounded he hated saying the last two words.

You couldn't put an amount on the amount of power you sensed on the Director. It not only seemed, it actually was infinite. Many had heard stories about ultimate beings or a god. This guy fit the bill. It was a shining light that was blinding at first and slowly dimmed, **"You are Shibuya's residents. The former and current Composer are here. There is one missing."**The Director toned down the brightness then seemed human enough. Unlike a lot of other suit wearing angels, he wore a simple white T-shirt and blue jeans. On his neck was a simple metal cross dangling from a chain. His hair was white with no hint of gray. His body wasn't remarkably tone or tall. He didn't even look intimidating. **"Bring her here. You have my permission."** The Director said to the nearby Agent who ported away. Apparently there was one more person he had to talk to.

Beat of course spoke his mind, "Is this the son of a bitch?! Is this the bastard who made all this happen?! You're a sick excuse for God you know that?! This here is your fault!" He had a right to be outraged, but this wasn't the person to show it to.

Joshua's eyes narrowed with worry. Beat had no idea who he was talking to. This wasn't the person you swore at, this was the Director. "Beat, remember who you're talking to."

Beat continued without fear, "I know who I'm talkin' to. You think I'm scared of dying?! You think I'm going to treat him any different?! Hell no, two hell noes! I hate him, man, I think he's worse than any human could be." Beat looked at Joshua as if Joshua was next in line to get lashed out at.

Eyes turned toward the Director who smiled genuinely at that, **"I will take no offense. You speak what you think. You have a right to your thoughts, but no more outbursts. We have a matter to discuss."**

Neku was more respectful than Beat but still pretty forward, "What game were you involved with with the noise? Why did you involve Shiki? Or Weiss for that matter?"

The Director answered quickly, **"The game with the noise is over. But there is a second coming. The game to come will not be explained at least not now. The former game that was... is over. I will tell you. The noise and myself were playing a game for your city. I would conduct three tests over the weeks past. The first test was a test of the game. The second test was testing the Composer. The third test was testing the noise. The bargains made between the noise and myself are not to be revealed at this time."**

Joshua looked up with a little surprise. As if he just realized something, "You were testing me?"

At that moment the Agent returned with Nanami. Who appeared next to the rest of the group. "You're all here?" She said mildly surprised, then was more surprised to see where she was.

The Director continued, **"The game was not about winning or losing, but allowing Shibuya to make it's choice. Shibuya wishes to fight the noise. It wishes to cling to life. Now the decision will be made. Shall I destroy Shibuya?" **He sounded barely like he wanted to hear other opinions on the matter.

Shiki was the first, "Don't destroy Shibuya!" Her head looked left and right for support.

Shiki got support from her husband, Neku said, "I agree, I don't want Shibuya to be destroyed. There's too much at stake for our individual lives to get in the way of that choice."

Beat spoke his mind as usual, "Ain't no one here going to say anything different! Hands off!"

Nanami didn't have to hear all of it, "There's no point in destroying it now! Not after all we've been through."

Joshua stood up from his knees, "I need not tell you my feelings on the matter. I will fight until the very bitter end."

The Director turned his gaze to the Agent. Who countered this like any stereotypical villain would, "All humans. They don't matter. They fail to see the larger picture. The noise will destroy all of the world if allowed to spread. We have a chance to stamp them out and we should take it."

The Director responded, **"What my Agent says is true. The decision does not end with you." **

The Agent smirked as if he had already won. They didn't have a say in the matter. The Director was going to destroy everything and that would be the end of it.

The Director pointed at his Agent first, **"I will now awaken my proxy."** Crap, it looked like he might have made that smug agent his proxy. The Agent bowed as if to receive a sort of blessing. But instead of being granted something nice, he yelled with pain and grabbed his head, **"Agent, you will know what you truly are. You were created with the purpose of opposing Joshua. You were only but a part in this game. You will not decide the fate of Shibuya. Try as you might, the decision was never yours."**

Then eyes turned to Neku, **"The proxy is among us, I will awaken him now. Embrace truth, it is the means by which revelation is revealed." **If Neku was the proxy, that'd be perfect. Composer and proxy of the Director? It only seemed fitting.

Neku gulped, but the Director pointed his finger at someone who hadn't spoke yet, Weiss. An explosion of light went off and Weiss changed. His eyes changed and after a yelp his voice changed. An instant calm came over him. With his eyes glowing gold, he walked away from his group of friends and approached the Director. His mannerisms changed slightly, but a look a calm is what really set him apart now. He turned to face them all and said, **"I am the Director. I have made this human form that I may feel as you feel. That I may personally test the game and the Composer. That I may understand Shibuya. It was a condition Weiss know nothing of the game against the noise, until it ended."**

The Agent looked horrified. That was impossible! What this meant? Oh crap, this wasn't good for him! "No... I was controlling you. You were made as a vessel for me."

Weiss turned his eyes and the same expression the Director had was on his face, **"A vessel, yes. One I allowed you to use when testing the Composer. The fact he made a pact was the very thing that brought about your use of the vessel. Weiss as a human had limited memory and intelligence. I hid many memories from this human form, I learned what he learned and I felt what he felt. Weiss is me, wholly separate and the same."**

Joshua actually started putting all the pieces together. That actually made more sense than what the Agent said. Weiss was capable of giving Charon and even Hanekoma orders. Hanekoma never opposed Weiss, but he did oppose the Agent. There was outrage in Weiss' voice when he heard Hanekoma had involved himself in the game to save a human girl. That wasn't Agent, was it? Agent showed up when Joshua made a pact with Weiss and tried to get him erased. In his battle with Thanatos Joshua tried to erase the Director's proxy and that's where Agent came in. Agent was a punishment a means to oppose Joshua. The Director let him take control of Weiss for a short time. But why would the Agent leave his body at the end of the week and ask Sho Minamimoto to erase it? Agent said it was because he had no use of that body anymore, but there were plenty of ways of killing the body he was in and leaving before it worked. The truth was this: He couldn't kill Weiss. He was trying the whole time to get Neku and the gang to despair against the noise? He sabotaged Shibuya using Weiss, but he never got that body he was in any real danger.

It seemed Agent wasn't told that Weiss was actually important. The Director commanded him only to care for the body he was using. He might have suspected more, but he was definitely in trouble now. The Director was fully aware of everything he did. Damn! The Director saw and felt it all personally! There was no escape.

Joshua tried to recall, "You were your own proxy. You just limited yourself to a human body... You were just playing the game the first week... You were seeing if it was fair or possible to win. Since you won, even if there was luck involved... you learned it was possible to beat the game. So during the second week-"

Weiss turned his head to Joshua, still speaking as the Director did, **"You were the focus of my attention then. I put you in situations where your judgment could be brought to question. If you had erased Weiss, my vessel, for any reason or even his partner that had won. I would have destroyed Shibuya. If at any point Weiss were somehow erased, I would destroy everything, Weiss was strong enough not to be killed by accident or weak reapers. He has all the power needed to complete any task a player should be given. The first week was to see if the game was fair. I made this player, Weiss. If the first week were impossible, then at the first week all would be destroyed. My nature was simple, I wanted Shibuya to be destroyed. I wished it destroyed for years. Yet it was not time to do so. I joined the game myself as a means of testing it. The second week, I wanted to see what steps Joshua took to save the city."**

What judgments did he make? How did he test him? The angel was only in his head during the second half of week 2. Week three? "**During this week I told all that I would destroy Shibuya if Shiki were erased. This was to protect her. The noise did everything in their power to prevent her destruction. If she had been erased, then because Weiss made a pact with her... then Weiss would also be erased. The deal still stands. If Weiss was erased for any reason, I would destroy everything. The noise and I agreed to this game. The noise were not to interfere and my manipulation of events was severely limited."**

Neku wanted to see the logic in that, "Then what was the point of putting yourself through all that crap? Was that all part of the game?"

Weiss told him still using the Director's voice, **"I wanted it to end. I placed many things in the path of Weiss. I allowed the Agent to test Shibuya in his own way. The more time went by, the more I understood, I did not truly want to destroy Shibuya. It seemed that the city cried out to survive as Weiss survived this far."**

Nanami yelled, "No way! That wasn't you! That couldn't be you! Weiss is his own person!"

Weiss blinked a moment and his normal silver eye seemed sad, "I'm sorry, but it seems you were right. I really am a human, but I'm made from a part of the Director. You changed a lot of my views, Nanami. You showed me there's more good in people than I cared to believe. Those experiences were ours, but... the truth is I'm still part of the Director."

Neku caught on to what was going on, "Weiss has his own personality, one based originally off the Director's. They're both independent... but the Director is the source of it all."

Weiss spoke as the Director again, **"Correct. Weiss and I are indeed the same and separate. It is a difficult concept for humanity to grasp."** Weiss spoke as himself next, "I would know... I have trouble with it sometimes too." The boy sounded more at peace, "I want to apologize for this deception. I couldn't know about the game between the Director and the noise... part of the conditions. I never wanted to lie, I didn't know what I was and there was a sense of loss when the Agent said I wasn't human. But the truth is... I am human, but I'm part of the Director. Which is why I have a responsibility to answer."

The Director started speaking with his own body instead of Weiss', **"What have you decided on the fate of Shibuya?"** It sounded like he already knew.

Weiss told everyone there, **"I share their sentiment. I want to try to save Shibuya. I know of the risk, even so Shibuya is worth such risk. I shall fight for it! We shall face the noise head on.**"

The Agent stopped that right then, he was toast anyway. There was no way the Director was going to let him off the hook after all the crap he pulled. He might as well finish the job. He was going to give Shibuya one last run for its money. "No... No! I was tasks with destroying Shibuya! You know full well that it can't be saved! One last test! One final test! Which among you would be willing to defeat an angel in combat?"

Charon approached with a smile on his face, "It would be my pleasure. Give the order and I'll end him."

Weiss looked directly at Charon who nodded, "Well actually, no. He has a point. There is the issue of proving themselves capable of beating the most powerful noise. Let there be no doubt. You can fight the residents of Shibuya."

The Agent smirked, that's what he wanted to hear, he walked over to the group and asked, "Which of you humans would like to prove you can beat a power beyond yourself? Which of you wants erasure?" The guy sounded so smug. It was as thick as that fog around them.

Nanami hesitated, "What? He wants to fight us? What purpose would that serve?"

The Agent didn't have to explain much, "The noise will destroy you... There's no way you could actually win. So rather than letting you try something so foolish I'll show you humans how weak you really are. Joshua and Neku do not have the power of Composer here. This would be the best place to erase them."

Joshua got off of his knees and could feel the smug expression returning to his face, "You think you can? Even without my power as Composer I was the strongest player of my generation. Neku is the strongest of his. You're a powerful angel, but I'll gladly be the first to erase you."

The Agent scoffed, "You'll be easy enough to erase. I'm in the angel plane, this is where I'm strongest. Who else will fight me?"

Neku stepped forward pretty quick to answer the call, "I'll fight you, I don't need the power of the Composer, never wanted it anyway. You're dead."

Beat jumped up to the stage too, "I'll going to beat your face until your ass bleeds."

Shiki and Nanami were too mature to make a battle quote, but they had their weapons and psyches ready.

The Agent calculated his odds of beating all of them, not as likely as he hoped. He needed to do something to make it easier. "I will fight two of you. Out of the group you may choose any two. Neku and Shiki perhaps?"

The Director spoke to him, **"I will allow two to face you. But I will modify your power accordingly. The stakes for this battle are simple. If you lose you will help them purge Shibuya of noise. If you win, those here will not participate in the battle for Shibuya. They and fifty others they select will be spared destruction."**

It seemed that Neku and the gang weren't on the Director's to-erase list. But that didn't seem fair, they had already made it this far. But it seemed another angel appeared to up the stakes, "Hey there chief, need to speak with the Director right quick." It was Hanekoma. He wasn't wearing his usual getup and his usual face when talking to the Director.

Hanekoma whispered into the Director's ear. The Director kept a deadpan expression, **"Very well, if they win I will resurrect some of those erased in this game and the one six years ago. I shall leave the selection to Shibuya's Producer. Those the noise have turned to Echoes will need to be defeated all the same."**

The Agent frowned at Hanekoma, he was betting against him? How strong were these humans? It didn't matter, they couldn't beat a full powered angel. Without the power of a Composer what chance did they have? "Choose which two shall face me. Any two of you should do."

Neku of course was going, but he wasn't happy with who else was going. Joshua told the Agent, "Neku and myself will be facing you. I haven't got to fight anyone in ages." That was a stupid reason. But Joshua was the only one who could actually match Neku's creativity and imagination. Shiki and Beat both had better sync with him. They always reached Neku on a deeper level, but what they lacked was the raw power Joshua had. Shiki had a bond with Neku that couldn't match anything Joshua had. Joshua did have something that made it worth the terrible sync rate: he and Neku were the strongest players in Shibuya.

Neku reminded Joshua of the obvious fact, "Joshua? You do realize I hate you, right? I don't think I could work with you even if I wanted to. Shiki and I should handle this." Joshua didn't really listen that well, he activated a pact with Neku without really much discussion. There was a simple quick flash of light and glowing blue eyes. At this point it didn't really seem that impressive.

Joshua gave him some encouragement, "Pretend he's me. I think we can both agree enough that this guy isn't exactly a friend of ours."

Neku rolled his eyes, "I don't like him either. I'd rather not pretend anyone is you... in fact... I'm going to look at you as little as possible if that's alright."

Joshua of course took the moment to jack with him, "You won't even look at me? Is it the hair?"

Neku responded by going straight for the Agent. He didn't think about Joshua, just killing this bastard. He needed to pay for a lot of things, but mostly he just had a thing right now against smug bastards. Psyches flying Neku was the first to throw down.

The Agent may have been an asshole, but he knew how to counter a psych. He avoided most of the bolts Neku sent his way and sidestepped some junk Joshua sent falling in his general direction. The Agent started radiating silver and gold energy that impressed the onlookers. At a rough guess he was stronger than either Joshua or Neku individually. Neku flashed by sent flames his way. They were blown back by an energy pulse and the angel zipped past the falling metal Joshua sent his way.

Neku complained, "Can you do anything less useless than making crap falling out of the sky?!"

The Agent hit him with a beam of energy that was shaped like a cross. The Neku coughed and felt it hard. Wow, he had been hit by a Conductors that didn't hit that hard. This wasn't good. The angel flashed in the direction of Joshua easily avoiding all the falling junk. Dammit he was fast too? Well he did say he was going to be stronger than normal in the angel plane. Joshua kept tapping out his phone and flipped it shut stylishly.

Joshua psych was his phone. He could summon up random crap to fall out of the sky to crush his enemies. With it shut he wasn't going to be doing anything. The angel smiled at that, easy prey. He came up close and summoned up some sort of white glowing single blade. It wasn't a sword, it was just like holding a lit flare. He came up to impale Joshua only to see the boy nimbly avoid the attack. Side stepping it casually. The angel swung again, also missing. Joshua took his closed phone and bashed it against the Agent's face. The result was a spiral of junk spinning around the angel. Joshua stepped back and flipped open his phone then started adding to the spinning junk. More and more stuff fell out of the sky: vending machines, trucks and hell even light posts. The angel paused a moment and collected himself. He patiently watched for a way out, there was an opening!

Joshua seemed to smirk when he took the only open spot, "Well Neku?"

Neku was waiting in ambush. He sent a spike of ice knocking the angel into the air. He fired a volley of fire and energy toward him, "Let's see if he can fly."

Joshua frowned, "Probably not the best comment to make."

Neku glanced only for a moment, "Well he can't, right?"

A winged Agent kicked him in the chest and sent Neku skidding back. He sent another beam that looked like a cross at Neku. Luckily Neku was ready and made a black barrier that kept the attack from actually smiting him. The agent appeared the moment the attack was deflected and smacked the barrier with a dozen strikes. Each of them had little effect other than Neku making a grunt.

Joshua helped, the spiraling junk tornado he made earlier now dispersed and sent every bit of metal on a first class ticket to crush that angel. The angel batted a vending machine away with a wing and sliced another in half. While his back was turned Neku took charge. He started blasting the bits of junk that missed the angel and sent them flying at him in the other direction. The agent had to deflect attacks from two angles. Not advantageous. The angel promptly sent a pulse of silver blowing back all the junk heading his way. It all went back flying back towards his opponents. Neku managed to dodge or use psyches to avoid them.

Joshua actually got hit, but flipped back into battle stance. "This is tedious, can we quit pretending?" The Agent and Neku gave him a funny look as he continued, "You're really going to make me try? Could we at least pretending we're not fighting at our fullest."

Neku and the angel looked at one another perplexed. They WERE fighting at their fullest, why wasn't he. Neku told the Agent, "Go ahead and kill him... I don't think I could stop you."

The Agent did just that, he went straight for Joshua. He flew down like a jet swooping in to slice the ex-Composer. When the slice missed he dived down into the floor causing a shockwave blast to go across the floor. Much to his surprise Joshua was floating in the air to avoid it. "You've earned what my fans call the 'Jesus Beam'." Joshua raised started raining down pillars of light from the sky, they were white and angelic. They weren't as strong as when he was Composer, but you could probably confirm by the Agent's face if they hurt.

Neku appeared behind the angel and made a bunch of black metal orbs appear around the area. He kicked the angel as hard as he could into one, then sent him bouncing from one to another. Joshua helped by making pillars blowing him into the ones he missed. Despite the fact Neku was pissed at Joshua, they still could work together pretty damned well. "Let's finish this." Neku said.

Joshua and he both appeared on each side of the angel. Joshua sent pillars from light from the sky and Neku sent up flames from below. They both met in the middle and made an impressive explosion. Although from that explosion the Agent came flying out grabbing Joshua by the throat and throwing him into Neku. When Joshua and Neku crashed into one another he sent that cross beam straight through Joshua and coming out Neku. He then started teleporting around them slashing and hacking. The only thing keeping Neku and Joshua from being cut to pieces was darklit planets barrier that kept Neku alive from who knew how much. While in there Joshua rubbed his chin in thought.

Joshua started mashing keys on his phone causing junk to come raining from the sky. Neku dropped the barrier and they both went jumping from junk piece to junk piece going higher and higher. The agent flew after them avoiding the falling scraps. However one of the falling scraps he flew past had Joshua standing on it. He lost line of sight of Joshua so he went for Neku. When his head turned towards the sky he saw Neku hopping off a falling red truck. Then after a push of his legs the truck went flying towards the angel. The Agent cut the truck in half like it was nothing. But as he cut it, Neku sent black flames his way. The truck had gas in it, because it exploded. This caused the angel to flinch for the last time. A volley of bolts went off and a pillar of light from Joshua hit him. The angel fell to the floor taking the last hit he could afford.

When the angel hit the ground heavy objects landed on his limbs one at a time pinning him to the ground. Then Neku appeared with a palm pointed at his forehead. Joshua wasn't far off ready to hit him again, he was beaten. "It seems you beat me... fine you win this game. Fight the noise... I won't get in your way again." The angel shut both eyes and groaned, "It won't mean much now, but I'll admit I was wrong. I was wrong, maybe you can beat the noise. Or maybe I'm just too weak to stop you from trying."

Joshua smirked and glanced happily at Neku, "Looks like we still can work together just fine."

Neku kicked him under the belt and sent Joshua groaning to the floor, "Don't think that'll stop me from kicking your ass for all the crap you pulled."

After a long silence there were finally words from the Director.**"You have won, so the Clash has begun. The battle between the Noise and humanity shall take place in Shibuya. Over the next three days, I shall play one more game with the noise."** The lord of the angels conjured up power beyond comprehension, **"In order to defeat the noise, you shall have my blessing. You shall have those who were taken from you, in this game and the one many years before it."**

The Director looked at the floor to reveal a perfect image of Shibuya reflecting off the crystal surface all onlookers stood. At that moment players from all over were brought back from the dead. There was Triple Seven, there was Sota and Nao. There were players from that were erased from the game fairly or unfairly. Although there was no way to speak to them now, they were definitely back to help against the final battle with the Noise. They'd need every single person to have a prayer of success.

Weiss smirked at the Director and took light steps away from him, "I'd like to go with them. I'm not as strong as Neku or Joshua, but I think I could be of some assistance. There shouldn't be any danger, right?"

The Director gave a quick nod and spoke not just to Weiss but to all the players, **"You realize that this risk is yours alone. If you are erased there will be no retribution, no angel will come to your aid. Once the Clash begins it shall only end in victory or defeat."**

Weiss gave a quick bow and walked over to the rest of the group, "Would it... would it be alright if I joined you?"

Beat was more or less the mouthpiece of the rest of the group, "Ain't none of us gonna say no. We need all the help we got." Beat tried to think a moment, "I'm gonna go save Rhyme, I'm getting my partner back. Getting' my sister back."

Neku looked towards the city, "I'm going after the strongest noise I can find."

Shiki readied herself, "We'll all need to partner up again."

Joshua kept a reasonable distance away from the rest of them, "Do we get to choose our partners?"

The Director shook his head, **"They have been decided, you'll find out when the Clash begins. A new day dawns."**

Neku groaned, "Knowing my luck I'll be paired with Joshua again... that's just the kinda luck I have."

Joshua cocked his head and gave a bright smile, "Still thinking about killing me?"

Neku glared a moment before saying, "I'll kill you later."

Attention was split a moment, someone else was walking by. Someone they knew: Thanatos. He was revived with the other players that died. He had a mixed look of irritation for being brought back from the dead, "And here I was thinking I could finally stay dead... screw you guys."

Tomorrow there was no telling who would be paired with who. There was going to be a battle that extended across the whole city and the Noise were waiting for them.

XXX

On the surface the seal above Shibuya glowed proudly proclaiming it's impending victory. On the highest building waited Kitaniji and Rhyme. Both looking up with noise symbols on their face, "It appears the Director has revived many fallen players."

The noise Rhyme giggled, "They won't get a complaint from us."

Kitaniji pushed up his glasses and smirked a smile only he could, "No, we await them with open arms. Let us turn our attention not to them, but our awakening brother. The one who will bring about Shibuya's end."

Rhyme and he waited by a noise seal as light shot down from the sky onto an impressive prepared spot that may have been a ritual. In the center of runes and the tattoos stood a white haired man wearing a fur coat and simple pants. On all of his fingers were rings and on his head was a simple silver band. He had long raggedy hair and his face was insane even without the noise seal stamped on it. Kitaniji introduced Rhyme to him, "Please welcome Shibuya's previous Composer: Hirashi the god-slayer."

Hirashi was built and was intimidating enough without that massive power coming out of him. He had the power of a Composer and he had one thing on his mind, "Where is the one who killed me?... Where?! IS?! JOSHUA?!"

XXX

End Week 3 Day 4

XXX

[Rezzing the dead? Oh yes, I totally went there! But the noise are going to do the same tactic. They're bringing back some real monsters to the fight.

Thanatos joins the fight once again and Joshua has a real problem.

I'm going to ask respectfully that you comment and tell me what you think. Don't hesitate to tell me all you can. I've no doubt missed errors I'm sure, but do tell me if you liked it. If you like it wish me happy birthday! ^^]


	19. Week Three, Day Five: The Composer

[A big shout out to Stealthclaw, dustin and Miss Turning. I think I owe them a special thank you for taking some time out of their lives to tell me what they think. I managed to rectify a few problems. This chapter has a lot in it. Make take you more than one sit to finish. But finally I think you'll start seeing the end of the road. Two chapters left, folks. Enjoy your read.]

Week 3 Day 5: The Composer

A lot happened yesterday and the day before that. In fact the last two weeks for him were pretty eventful too; pretty much every day was a clusterbomb of unexplainable crap. "Damn." Kariya was awake. His usual partner wasn't sleeping next to him, it forced his eyes to widen not to see Uzuki. It was a sleeping black haired girl, a player, someone who back in the good ole days he'd kill. The good ole days weren't that good, but at least he was used to them. "I'm with you? Eh?"

Nanami poked her head up; there was a lot of pavement residue on her face. The poor girl coughed herself awake, "Is this the Clash?"

Kariya didn't really have a way of telling. There was no way of knowing. If this was the Clash than it was a lot quieter than he figured. Really Kariya didn't have an answer, but his gut did, "This is it."

Nanami sat up and managed to stand. She tried dusting everything off except her face, "Well where's all the Noise we're supposed to fight?" She looked around then back at Kariya. He found himself grabbing a small pebble out of her hair.

After flicking the pebble away he told her, "I'm not really sure how this system works. It's not like the Director or the Noise is going to sit us down and explain everything. We kinda know Noise champions are going to come after us, right?"

Nanami started finishing what Kariya started. She started brushing all the dirt off her face as she spoke, "They were called Echoes. So we're looking for old reapers right?"

Kariya went ahead and reminded himself, "They can pretty much grab anyone who had a Noise form and put them back together using that. So... even Players with Noise forms count. Think that's the only prereq."

Nanami had to wonder, "Umm... so... this might be personal, but do you have a Noise form?"

Kariya pulled out a lolipop and didn't really answer her question, "I've never been Erased. I wouldn't count."

That wasn't what she was asking, she wanted to know if he had a Noise form. She was going to ask again, but then the look on his face let her know, '_Drop it'._ Something personal maybe? No way of knowing.

"Whoooaaaaa!" Oh God, that voice. It could only belong to one human being. Shuto Dan (aka 'Shooter') clearly remembered Nanami. "You're the chick that beat me in Tin Pin! At the championship, right?! I hadn't seen you since!"

Nanami would have explained why, but that would take more time than it was worth. What mattered was now. "Well... umm... since you're here. You wouldn't happen to have seen any super powerful monsters or people who summon monsters would you?" The girl wasn't really going to explain the Noise. Calling them monsters would do.

Shuto pulled out a tin pin launcher and tin pins, "I've got tons of powers! I've had them all along!"

Nanami facepalmed, "No, not talent in Tin Pin. I meant something that might help us against the Noise."

At the very instant she after she finished her sentence a number of Noise appeared. All of which didn't seem friendly. Nanami tried to pull Shuto behind her and see if she could keep the kid from being Erased, but he wasn't moving. "That's just it!" Shuto said with his eyes full of pride. "Tin Pin is my psych! I can help with the Noise too."

Psych? He knew what psyches were? Wait, he knew what Noise were?! What the hell?! Shooter pointed his Tin Pin launcher at the small group of Noise that appeared and sent the pin flying. The pin didn't hit the floor near the Noise, but that's all it took. The pin exploded. No really, it actually exploded. It killed all the Noise in the process. "My launcher can fire pins and... at the cost of the pin... I can... MAKE IT EXPLODE!" He put unnecessary dramatic pauses in before the last three words made him shout so loud it hurt Nanami's ears.

Kariya didn't seem to mind the kid at all, "Welcome aboard kido. Just be careful when you use pins. It looks like you won't get the pins back after you shoot."

Shooter didn't seem to care. He opened up his vest revealing that it was covered in pins. His pockets were all full of pins. He lifted up his shirt to reveal that there were pins taped to his chest. By the look of him, he could make a living off of smuggling drugs if he quit the Tin Pin gig. He was about to take off his pants too, but no one wanted to see that. "NO!" Kariya and Nanami stopped him. He stopped and buckled his belt.

"I got plenty of pins. I have a backpack full of them too." He even had a backpack full of them. No really, it was FULL of them. It wasn't organized; it was just stuffed with Tin Pins. Who does that? Oh well, that meant this kid wasn't going to run out of ammo any time soon.

Nanami tried not to get too sidetracked, "Alright Kariya, do you think we should reunite with the others? Or try finding them?"

Kariya looked a little distracted. "No... don't think we'll need to worry about them." His gaze was turned to the top of a nearby building. On it was sitting a small girl with pink hair. She looked younger than Uzuki and wore some type of black robe getup. The robe had a hood, but the hood was down. It let everyone get a better look at her face. Pink hair, pink eyes and a more noticeable pink scythe. In her mouth was chewing gum, which of course was pink.

She blew a bubble with her chewing gum and cocked her head. The pink haired Echo remained seated with a crossed leg in front and hands resting behind her back. "Kariya, I'm surprised you're still alive. I would have thought you'd be Erased from sheer laziness."

Kariya smirked but kept himself ready for an attack. Apparently this pink haired girl and he had a history. "I met another girl with pink hair. She keeps me busy. Ended up as a Game Master actually."

The pink haired girl crossed her legs and cocked her head. Her uninterested gaze met Nanami then back to Kariya. "You'll have to tell me who. You always had potential. Not that potential matters. It's what you're willing to do with potential that really makes a difference. Who are your friends? You should introduce me."

Kariya mockingly introduced them with thick sarcasm, "Nanami, meet my psychotic ex-boss. Psychotic Ex-boss... meet Nanami. Oh right, her name is Ichigo. Kinda catchy with the pink hair and all." Ichigo was a name often given to girls that meant strawberry. Of course Ichigo might have looked more like a 'Sakura'. She looked more pink than red.

Nanami rather uncomfortably exchanged the formal greeting, "Nice to meet you, Ichigo." Ichigo actually looked kinda harmless. Didn't even look like a reaper at all.

Ichigo was an Echo; it was obvious enough with the Noise symbol on her face. "Nanami was it? I'll be sure to remember your name when I cut your insides out and hang you by that lightpole. After that I'll forget it. Because it won't matter." Ichigo stood up with a light smirk. They way she said that to Nanami was scary. Not because Nanami couldn't take a threat. It was that Ichigo said it with a bored expression on her face. Somehow she made it sound like a casual comment than a threat. Ichigo sounded like she not only would do it but had done it before.

Shuto of course pulled out his Tin Pin launcher, "Hey watch it, sicko! You're talking to the Tin Pin world champ here!"

Ichigo turned her gaze to him; she looked younger than Shuto, which made it somewhat ironic when she said, "I have no time for children. I'll remove your head and think nothing more of you." The threat didn't scare Shuto at all. Then again it wasn't really a threat. She was just stating her intentions. Her main focus was on Kariya, "You... on the other hand. I'll pay special attention to. Let's see... I did tell you what would happen if you crossed me did I not? The penalty for betraying your Conductor... I believe was..." It looked like she was struggling to remember the details.

Kariya reminded her, "Cutting me exactly one thousand times before finally Erasing me." That sounded harsh.

Ichigo smirked, "A good memory. Yes, I said that I would cut you exactly one thousand times before Erasing you. It takes precision, but as a former Conductor I think I have the necessary speed and accuracy to get it done. I'm trying to imagine the look on your face when I make it to one thousand... what would it be? Shock? A battle hardened glare? Pitiful tears? What do you think it will be?"

Kariya smirked, "Oh you've got it all wrong. I'll be Erased before you reach the halfway point with how much I squirm. Anyway, I wouldn't take my betrayal too personally. I had plenty of help."

Ichigo didn't forget, "Oh I'm well aware. Who else was it?... There was Minamimoto. Konishi... you... Minamimoto is unfortunately on my side so I won't be taking any vengeance on him. And little Konishi is much to my disappointment, Erased. So that leaves you and only you. I'd say you improved as a reaper, but you really haven't. You were more determined then. I can't believe you took the side of that pitiful boy. What was his name?"

Nanami took a good look at Kariya, "Joshua?... You helped Joshua?"

Ichigo giggled a little as she remembered, "That was his name. Did I lie when you say you'd regret it? Did I not say nothing would change?"

Kariya smirked for half a second, "Not much changed, that's for sure. But hey, doesn't hurt to try, right?"

Ichigo corrected him, "It shall hurt. You crossed the wrong reaper. Perhaps if you were a player I would take no offense, but you were a reaper. You betrayed your Conductor and your Composer. Perhaps your new Composer and Conductor were easier on you? Hardly matters. Your past always comes back to haunt you. Well... perhaps not haunt you. Torture you until the point of erasure. Yes, that." It was a little confusing to see a girl who was barely adolescent talking as she did. Although that didn't fool anybody. There was no telling how old she actually was.

Nanami felt herself need to ask, "How much of this is the Noise? Was she always like this?"

Kariya didn't take his eyes off of Ichigo for a second, "You see that robe she's wearing? She came from a time where it was common for reapers to wear robes. She was a reaper before I was... not sure which of us is older. Probably me. By the way, Nanami... and you... The kid who needs to go to Tin Pin rehab."

Shooter reminded him his name, "It's Shooter, bub! Shooter. Anyway you don't need to worry about any reapers! It's three against one! She's not going to walk away from this!" Shooter looked down to load his Tin Pin launcher. When he pointed it back up where she was sitting he couldn't help but notice she wasn't sitting there anymore. "Wait... where'd she go?"

His question was answered with a reaper scythe just barely stopping before it reached his neck. He had his Tin Pin launcher up and it doubled for the moment as a shield. Shooter also couldn't help but notice that Ichigo's scythe was being held by Kariya. He wasn't touching the blade of the scythe, but he was holding the pole so Ichigo wouldn't do as she promised and decapitate Shooter.

Nanami told Shooter, "Don't take your eyes off of her. You can't let your guard down." She pulled out he book and was ready to attack. But much to her surprise Ichigo appeared ready to cut yet again. Before the ancient reaper slashed her foot made a kick in the direction of Kariya. Her foot connected and sent him skidding back. Her scythe wasn't going to be interrupted this time. Her weapon swiped from a downward angle upward. Nanami held up her notebook and it created an impressive energy shield. It was definitely enough to stop a melee weapon. Or... maybe not. It sliced through that shield like a knife through butter. Nanami did manage to jump backwards before the blade connected. But there was a simple cut on her torso. If she hadn't made a shield or jumped back she'd be dead. And if Ichigo wasn't kidding. The pink haired Conductor was going to hang her up on a lightpole after that. A little gruesome for a girl her age.

Ichigo was no stranger to battle. Shooter sent a tin pin flying her way and it exploded at her feet. That Tin Pin launcher was really a grenade launcher. It seemed even Ichigo was caught by surprise. It exploded and sent her flying. Which would have been a problem for anyone without reaper wings. Out of the wings extended a pair of black wings which didn't allow her to fly. But she was nimbly able to glide over to a small lightpole. "Players? Each able to survive a blow from a Conductor. I shall rethink your deaths."

Shooter didn't like that idea, "Hey, decapitation was great! Why change it?!" He sounded offended by the very thought. "You should stick to what you say! Don't change your plans halfway through! If you do that you'll never be good at Tin Pin."

Kariya would have face palmed, but he was too busy being alert. "You know kid... I'm not sure giving her any sort of motivation is a good idea."

Shooter didn't catch the reasoning, "But if you give up on something partway through you'll never get it done. Can't ever give up on your goals!"

Ichigo found him amusing, very amusing, "You're an adorable fool. But even fools can earn my respect. Yes, you are right. I shall not change my plans now." Her hand raised as she stood with perfect balance on a light pole. "It was never in my nature to hold back. My pride wouldn't allow it. Ichigo is my name. I am called the daughter of Death. For wherever I go, death follows. But death is best when the mood is set." From the sky shards of pink energy fluttered back and forth. It took a while before you could get a good look at it, they were sakura petals.

Kariya felt one fall on his shoulder. It was a crystal flower petal, pink and familiar. Definitely a sakura petal. "These aren't an attack, but I think she's taking us seriously. Don't think we deserved it."

Shooter wasn't going to buy that, "She's taking us seriously?! Cool! Now I can fight with full power!" Shooter must have been holding back. Because he started firing bolts out of that tin pin launcher like a machine gun fired bullets. To avoid the bullet fire Ichigo vanished up in a puff of flower petals. The bolts of energy of course did no harm with her gone. But Ichigo appeared behind Nanami in the same fashion as she disappeared. Flower petals swirled around before she appeared giving Nanami a little time to turn around.

This was the second time Ichigo almost cut her. Much the same she held up her notebook and put more energy into the shield this time. It still didn't help much, Ichigo must have put more force into her swing. It was about the same as before. Now on Nanami's stomach there was another small tear in the clothing. A matching two cuts each about an inch tall. At least Nanami could guess what Ichigo was going to do. She was going to try to decapitate Shooter and cut Nanami open. There'd be no blood or gore, they were both Players. If you cut into someone like that you'd usually get static. Fighting a former Conductor was never going to be easy, but then again what ever was?

Crap, Weiss wasn't there and neither was one of the veterans. Kariya was the strongest person on her team, but fighting this woman had him shaken. Shooter was pretty strong for someone starting out, but he didn't stand a chance by himself. Nanami had the wits, but lacked the experience Kariya had. She was pretty strong, but Shooter actually had more raw power than her. Overall Nanami didn't have much against a full blows Conductor. Ichigo's blade was coming a second time. This time a shield or a dodge wasn't going to stop it.

Nanami did something for the first time in a long time. She tried something where there was no way of knowing whether it would work or not. She opened her notebook and caught the blade by shutting the book. It was the same as catching the blade with her hands only instead she used a book, clever really. Ichigo of course tried to pull back, but that would mean she'd have to let go of her weapon. Nanami stood there struggling a moment with her arms shaking. She held the book shut over a scytheblade with a smirk on her face. It wasn't too long ago she was just a secretary. Funny how things work out.

Ichigo turned twisted her blade and tried to catch Nanami off balance. It didn't work, she twisted, with Ichigo and then as Ichigo spun her weapon the other way Nanami went with it. By that time Ichigo was hit in the back by Shooters Tin Pin launcher. A pin hit her in the back and exploded. The force sent her exploded forward to Nanami, who still held on to a notebook for dear life. Ichigo was going to make her pay for that. The Conductor rather than pulling the blade away then pushed it forward, tearing the notebook and the blade went straight through Nanami's psyche. At the end of the day it was just a notebook, even if it was a psyche. Psyches could be broken or damaged and Ichigo intended to break Nanami's. The blade went through the notebook and tore the book down the middle at the crease. The blade would have cut Nanami, but Kariya appeared between the two girls and grabbed the scythe by the pole. His gaze met his former boss and he looked serious. With a free hand he put a palm in her face and sent an energy blast into her forehead.

The reaper went skidding back and felt her face in disbelief. She wasn't dying from something like that, "I suppose I should have known you were no ordinary player. Still... your psyche is gone now. As with it are your chances of survival. Still... it was better to give up your psyche than your life. But a loss like that... well... you'll not regret it long." Ichigo let flower petals spin around her. Her hair and robe hood kicked around in the wind. Honestly if it were animated, it'd annoy the crap out of animators. All of the flower petals were glowing pink with her hair and eyes. Her scythe and even wings started glowing pink. Definitely looked more like she should have been thematically named 'Sakura'. But then that would have probably been too cliché. She rushed forward sending pink energy blasts at Kariya who avoided and countered with his own. Shooter tried getting between Nanami and Ichigo. The former Conductor swung her blade like a baseball bat and sent Shooter out of the park. Well she probably would have if he didn't hit a building wall. "Give up." She said.

Kariya charged up a lot of energy into a relatively small bolt and fired it at the floor in front of him. The blastwave was like a tsunami and Ichigo hopped to avoid it. Actually it was pretty easy to dodge, why'd he bother to do that? She was then hit by a perfectly fired Tin Pin shot from Shooter. He grunted against the wall and fired his psyche with a smirk. "A true Tin Pin champ never gives up! You'd sooner catch me dead!" Clearly he the wrong choice of words.

Ichigo waved her scythe and a pink energy slash went in the general direction of Shooter. Oh that sucked, he was wasn't going to move his body in time. So instead he pointed the launcher above him and made an explosion that at the time seemed pointless. Ichigo frowned as he did that. Crafty little bastard, eh? The explosion gave him the momentum he needed to dodge her energy attack. Stupid and gutsy, it suited Shooter well.

Kariya didn't let up his assault either. He kept up his volley of energy attacks in an attempt to keep Nanami safe and if he was lucky actually manage to hit Ichigo. Which of course it didn't. She just kept spinning and every time she jumped flowers petals kicked off the floor. There was a difference between her movements and theirs. Hers were graceful and experienced, she dealt quick blows that were way too difficult to deflect. All in all they were losing. Something needed to change. Something big needed to change. Shooter was hurt and Nanami had a broken psyche. Kariya let out a sigh of defeat, "Well this sucks." He had to take a guess. "I'm next, right?"

XXX

"I'm with you?!" Said two people at the exact same time. One was Beat and one was Uzuki. Why the hell were they together? Who planned this? Good God, it's like they were put together completely at random.

Beat didn't really think well of Uzuki ever since Rhyme kinda sorta got EATEN by a Noise back in the first week. Uzuki was the type of person who bragged about what Players she managed to Erase. Then again most of the time it was just to impress some of the older reapers, like Kariya. When Beat and Uzuki were reapers she didn't really like him. Not that she had a reason to, of course. Now even after the game there was probably still some hostility they probably should have worked out, but never did. "This is bull. I should have been put with someone I could fight wit. No offense, but I don't think we'd work." Sure, he didn't hate her now, but that didn't make them a good team.

Uzuki found herself agreeing with him, "No offense taken, I think of about the same as a sore on my foot." Both were a pain. Her eyes glared around the area as both her and Beat started looking at everything except each other, "Although... it looks like we're stuck together. We're surrounded by barriers. We got that much in common." They unfortunately were and did. From what she could tell the barriers weren't the kind you could just break down. If she had to bet, Beat would try to break them down anyway.

Which of course he was. He was hitting the shelled wall like a wrecking ball. Say what you want about Beat about being dumb, he could punch. The wall it seemed was better at taking punches, though. "Well this ain't breakin." If he had made some sign of progress he might have kept trying. He looked around for some other way out, "All these walls are the same too. Whatcha think?"

Uzuki leaned against a wall and tried to think. Crap, Kariya was the real planner. All she did was motivate or bounce ideas off of him. Oh well, time to try her best, "Well better look around. We won't find a way out here." She started walking and Beat could follow her if he wanted. It looked like he didn't have anywhere better to be. After another punch on the wall he spat on the ground and walked away.

As they walked they stopped suddenly, they both sensed it. Someone was following them, was it an Echo? Who else would it be? They both turned around ready to jump who was behind them. Much to their surprise it was someone they knew, but not someone they expected. "Is dat Triple Seven?" Beat asked with a perplexed look on his face. Blond pointy hair that could get you compliments at a ridiculous hair convention. His clothes were the same as he wore years ago. Honestly Beat only remembered 777 because he was a singer. A singer who had a night job as a reaper.

Now 777, called Triple Seven, had actually been killed six years ago. He was killed by an ambush set up by Konishi. Which made it all the more surprising to see him there. "Yeah, I'm surprised I'm alive too." He said noting the noticeable age difference Beat had gone through. Uzuki being a reaper only looked like a year older if that. "Before you start getting too worked up-"

Beat got into a battle stance, "You an Echo? One of those superNoise?! Betcha thought you could sneak up on us an' attack. Well that ain't gonna work, dumbass. Cuss we knew you was comin'."

Uzuki smacked Beat on the back of the head, "He's not an Echo! Look at his face, no Noise tattoo."

Beat growled back at Uzuki, "That don't excuse em'! Rhyme didn't have a Noise on her face until Neku tried to fix her up. He could still be one of dem' Noise!" His finger pointed at 777. Who only sighed and held up a hand.

"More importantly..." He began. "The Noise wouldn't have revived me. I'm not exactly the most powerful reaper on the planet. The way I was revived was the Director. He brought back a few Players and reapers to help you with the Noise. So... I'm here to help."

Uzuki had a question, "Wait... how do you know about our battle with the Noise?"

777 pointed at the sky, "You might have noticed this already, but a lot of people who weren't Players are now. Not only are they Players, they can use their psyches. Everyone who was revived or recently was told about what's going on. It wasn't like we were actually told... It only took a second, but I saw a lot of what happened while I was gone. We need to help fight the Noise and we'll know them by the Noise seals on their faces. Also every day we'll wake up with the Players that currently remain. Our teams will be decided at random."

Beat gave him a puzzled look, "Random eh?"

The old dead reaper told him, "Yeah random. At least the Players are chosen at random. I mean I wasn't told everything, but the Clash is supposed to be big. So I guess it makes sense we're in teams of three instead of two. I don't think Players need a pact to fight either."

Beat wondered about that, "Yeah although when we were alive, we didn't need a partner sometimes. At least I know Neku didn't always. Wish I was wit him. That guy is a psyche monster. I feel sorry for whoever got to fight him."

777 rubbed his neck and kinda had to add, "I feel sorry for whoever has to fight you two... you're both, well, hotheads."

Both Beat and Uzuki shouted at the same time, "I am not a hothead!" They both looked at one another and growled. They both had glares that felt like lightning was firing out of both eyes.

They might have started a shouting match, but they were interrupted by smaller, yet somehow more intimidating voice, "They both do get rather worked up don't they?" Beat knew who it was without turning his head. Uzuki knew who it was too. It was Rhyme. She wasn't a little girl wearing a hat, but it was still easy enough to recognize her.

777 turned his head and didn't really make the mood feel better, "Wow, there sure are a lot of blondes in here, huh? Two blondes here, I was killed by one about six years ago. Yup, there are a lot of blondes in my life."

Rhyme folded her hands behind her back and actually spoke rather sweetly. Although the mark on her face let everyone know it wasn't genuine, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're Triple Seven? I adore your music, but you're really carrying the other two in the band."

777 almost seemed flattered she remembered, "Yeah, kinda regret never letting BJ sing. But you know... at least I got all my singing time in."

Beat didn't want to listen to them banter, "YO! You let my sister go! She ain't one of you!"

Rhyme kept up that sweet smile of hers, "But Beat, Rhyme is still Rhyme, she's just being influenced by her own negative emotions. Would you like to hear them?" He of course didn't, which is why she told him, "Rhyme worked hard to keep a smile on her face, it was difficult sometimes. Not knowing what her goals and dreams were. But she kept smiling so you would never know just how difficult it was for her to cope with never being her own person. Do you remember how she died? The emotional part of her says you tried to save her, but there's another part of her that thinks you're the one who caused her death in the first place."

Beat felt the toughness in him start fading away and started to sweat. It felt cold. "Shut it." He said quietly.

Noise Rhyme kept going and kept up that happy face of hers, "If you really think about it. I really had a lot of reasons to hate you. You were always trying to save me, you were always trying to be strong. But really I hated my own existence, because all I ever did was clean up your messes. I died because of you, I was Erased because of you. I became a Noise because of you. I lost my dreams because of you... wow... to think all it took was smiling to hide this from you? Is my smile hiding anything now?"

Beat slammed his hand against a wall and made cracks appear, "I SAID SHUT IT! You ain't her! You ain't ever gonna be her! I ain't ever been smart, but I know you're... you're just actin' like you're her." He bowed his head and almost moaned at the end.

Noise Rhyme kept up that smile and stepped closer. "Acting or not. The emotions she feels are very real. The reason I exist is because she was never able to come to terms with it, she just kept smiling. You know she had to practice smiling. She practiced in a bathroom mirror, before you got into that fight with your parents. Not many brothers can say they have a sister that knows how to smile after her own brother gets her killed." Little by little she was only a few feet away from him.

Beat tried to throw a punch, but he missed. He tried to throw another and didn't even get close. Rhyme kept up that smile of hers. It might as well have been a shield. Except Beat felt pretty sure he could punch through a shield, his smiling sister was different.

Uzuki tried reasoning with him, "That's not your sister!"

Beat tried again and failed, "You think I don't know dat?!" He pulled out his skateboard and used it to push Noise Rhyme back. He barely managed to push her back, what was wrong with him? Well OK, he knew, but still he shouldn't be this shakey.

Uzuki wasn't going to be shaken up, "Well if you don't kill her, I will!"

Rhyme opened her eyes, but kept a mild smile on her face, "You killed me too, remember?" Uzuki sent bolts toward the little brat, but it wasn't working at all. "You're always trying to show Kariya you're not weak, yet you're always relying on him."

Uzuki almost scoffed, "As if I care!" Then she pulled out that gun of hers and fired what can only be called a 'mega-blast'. "Stay dead this time, brat!"

Rhyme seemed like she saw that coming and clapped both hands in front of her. It sent a golden sonic shockwave that canceled out the attack, "You're always failing, you're always trying. But deep down you know why, you don't have talent. It doesn't matter how much you try you'll never prove anything to anyone that you can't prove to yourself. You're really weak aren't you."

Uzuki knew what was going on. The Noise Rhyme was messing with their heads. If they didn't fight at their fullest they'd lose. Crap, it was working. Uzuki may have been able to keep attacking, but her emotions really were messing up her psyches. Usually that confidence of hers is what made a lot of her attacks strong. Her confidence was shaken and it was showing in her psyche.

777 ran up to her and found it easy enough to hit her. "Yeah well you don't have anything to mess me up." He pulled out a small microphone with angel wings on it. That was his psyche. With the microphone in his hand he slugged her right in the chest. The vibration ran through her body and it had to hurt. Rhyme took the hit and replied with her own. She pulled out a little bell charm and punched him in the stomach. The result was a sonic blast of gold that sent him crashing into the street. "That all you got?!" 777 said charging in again. Uzuki didn't stop firing ranged attacks so where Rhyme could move was limited. He charged up his hand and punched the floor. Sending a vibration that tore up the street in her direction.

Rhyme managed to dodge the vibration. Hopping barely off the ground and on a wall. From that wall she kicked off it and when she did. There was a golden sonic ring that shot out of the bottom of her shoe heel. The vibration caused instant acceleration that let her hop to another building. Again she didn't just kick off the building, she was using her sound vibration to send herself in the direction she wanted to go. It wasn't a problem for her to dodge attacks like that either. Rhyme really didn't have anything to say that 777, except for maybe, "Your hair looks stupid."

It didn't shake up his psyches at all, but it totally made him mad, "Don't diss the hair!" He said just long enough for Rhyme to kick him in chest. The sonic ring that made her kick off of walls quickly was now being used to send 777 flying away. Uzuki kept up the ranged attacks and Beat gathered himself well enough to start swiping his skateboard at her. With all the bolts it was really hard for Rhyme to move. It looked like Beat was actually going to be able to hit her this time.

So she did something that distracted him for a second, "Daisukenojo Bito."

Beat dropped his guard to angrily say, "Quit sayin' my name dammit!" He then got cheap shotted by a palm strike. The golden sonic ring sent him in the same direction as 777. Noise Rhyme was annoyingly crafty at getting them to drop their guard. But it's not like she could keep doing that all day. She needed to beat them for good. Uzuki was the one who caused the most problems. She'd need to go first.

Rhyme kicked off the floor and went soaring to do a downward kick on Uzuki. Uzuki had a surprise of her own. Uzuki was really really good making explosions at close range. "You can't use your most powerful attacks here, you're not crazy enough to kill us both."

Uzuki charged up an attack that was WAY bigger than necessary, "I'm crazy enough to kill ALL FOUR OF US!" Rhyme got wide eyed as Uzuki was ready to set off a really big explosion, which would have ordinarily hit beat and Rhyme, but she knocked them both away... far away. Oh crap. "You forgot something Rhyme, I'M PISSED OFF!" And with that there was a really really big boom.

After there was a really really big boom. All was quiet a moment. Beat came running back to see Uzuki groaning and under a pile of rubble. That attack was suicidal. It might have got her killed, "You alive, pinky?" Beat said already knowing the answer to that, he was just digging her out of building scrap. He managed to dig her out and her reaper wings were giving off a faint little glow.

Uzuki was using some sort of power to heal herself. "Leave my hair out of it." She groaned on her way up. Beat went ahead and told 777, "Hey porcupine, go hide behind a building or something. She's too hurt to keep fightin'."

Triple Seven just glanced at her a moment and didn't argue, "After I hide her, I'm coming back here. I'm guessing you figured that Noise is still alive."

Beat actually had some good reasoning, "The Noise might be hurt, but it wouldn't die. It didn't finish Uzuki off. So I'm guessing that Noise managed to live too."

The pointy headed reaper slung Uzuki's arm around his shoulder, "I'll be back before you can kill a superNoise." He ran off down the street with Uzuki as Beat turned his attention to another nearby pile of rubble.

"You better be back. Else I'm gonna craw out of my grave and kick yer' ass." Beat gripped his skateboard pretty tight. Here came the real fight.

Now there was a time when Rhyme was a Noise. She was actually kinda cute, not in the girly way mind you, the cute little squirrel way. There was such a time when she was a little squirrel Noise that could easily sit on Beat's shoulder. That was Rhyme's Noise form. Out of the rubble and scrap pile in front of Beat was another Noise entirely. It actually had some resemblance to the old squirrel Noise, it was a squirrel still. It had some resemblance to Rhyme as before. But instead of it being mostly pink, imagine a squirrel Noise that was mostly black. Then imagine in some places were pink tattoo markings for style. Now imagine that instead of it being six inches in length it was about six feet tall. Now imagine instead of simple beady eyes, it had glaring red slit eyes.

Beat walked up to it all the same. He had to save his sister after all. Beat extended his hand to send a chain firing into a nearby building. He then shot another chain, another and another. Pretty quick he was connecting chains to other chains and the Noise didn't bother to see what he was doing. It just wasn't going to let him do it. Whatever he was planning the Echo wasn't just going to let him do it.

"I ain't dyin' cuss ova' squirrel!" He said as it charged him head on. Beat was a strong player, he could physically hit harder than Neku by a longshot. In fact he could probably hit harder than anybody else he knew that was a player. Now that Noise wasn't messing with his head, he was gonna mess with it, "You think you're Rhyme? You think you're my sister! You ain't Rhyme! You know why?!" He hit it with his skateboard as it tried to tackle him. It zipped over to him again and tried to attack only to fail yet again, "It isn't Rhyme's nature to hurt anybody." It attacked again, only have the attacked block, "She's fighting you right? She's fighting her negative emotions so you're having trouble attacking too."

The Noise hissed at Beat and came up to strike him with a swing of the arm. The swing missed. The Noise attacked opened its mouth and tried sending a blast his way. That one Beat actually had to dodge. He smirked, "Don't worry Rhyme. I'll getcha outta' there."

The Noise spit several bolts his way and he swerved out of the way. He twisted like a football player dodging a tackle. He threw his skateboard on the ground and went racing down the damaged street. Making several jumps and grinding on several poles. Not far behind him was that gliding Noise. That was having trouble keeping up with him, not because of his speed. But due to the chains he put up earlier. Beat opened his palm and sent a chain into the top of building. He grabbed on to it and looked like batman or link. He used his chain as a sort of hookshot to pull himself up the building, but instead of pull he was skating up a wall. Right below him the flying Noise monster chased him. He waited a moment watching as the beast gained on him. Then without warning he let go of the chain and started falling towards the Noise. While he was falling he started hitting the Noise. Again and again with his fist or with his skateboard it didn't matter. He hit it again and again as they both started spinning while they fell.

The Noise lashed back at him, but it was stopping Beat from just hitting it again and again. It was as he said. Rhyme was fighting for control. Finally Beat finished his combo by doing a complete frontflip and slamming his skateboard right on the monsters head. It hit the floor with a crash. Beat had done his damage. Surely the thing wasn't getting up after that.

Fun fact: it got up.

Then rushed Beat and tackled him into a wall. It scratched at him a few times before he noticed the monsters face. It had static tears in its eyes. Was that thing crying? It let out a distorted cry, "You're always trying to save me! Then the one time I save you, you feel like it was the worst mistake of your life?..." Beat gulped and took several more hits. "You tried to become a reaper because of me?! Why did you do that?! Why do you keep fighting for my sake?! Why can't you just stop fighting?!" The monster moaned. Beat realized Rhyme was the one talking.

He couldn't reason with it, it's claws were choking him. He tried to say something, but he just croaked instead. His hands started falling limp. Crap, he was blacking out. He looked up and saw a light, was he dying? Was this dying? Oh, wait was just a light pole. Well nevermind the light, he was still blacking out.

Then the monster was hit with a sound vibration that knocked it over. 777 came charging in and smacking it several times with the microphone in his hand. Each time he did it caused the monster to buzz with static. He swiped the microphone across the monsters face. The microphone had two wings on it normally, but they were decorations. Now it was cutting blade. He used the microphone wings to cut into the Noise. He jumped back before the Noise countered. It seemed like it was about to fall over. Hell, it DID fall over. The giant squirrel said in Rhyme's voice, "Please don't kill me."

The reaper paused a moment. Then looked at Beat, "You awake? What now? We might hurt Rhyme if we finish this thing off."

Uzuki came limping up and decided for him, she pointed her gun at the monster and fired pink blasts into its chest causing it to explode. After it exploded Rhyme was left behind in tattered clothes. Uzuki was done, "Or she'll be fine." Uzuki took a look at Beat, he was alive. She was in bad shape and 777 was busy dropping his jaw at how quickly Uzuki made that rash decision. "This guy wasn't so bad after all... of course I softened her up, but he did a pretty good job."

Triple Seven shrugged, guess he wasn't getting any credit. He carefully picked up Rhyme, which in the real world he might have thought twice about. He put the girl next to her brother and huffed, "Well... guess we're done on our end. The barriers around us are going down. That means we can go help the others, right?"

Uzuki corrected him, "Or... other Noise can ambush us. But it'd be best if we rested for a moment, I think we earned a little break." They earned one and at least they could have a little one.

XXX

Weiss woke up next, it was an unusual day. It was tranquil and pretty. He was in a field of grass for some reason standing up. Weiss had no idea how he got there, he just opened his eyes and there he was. This definitely wasn't Shibuya, he surrounded by farms and nature. There was water and rice farms. The place felt different, it was quiet. Shibuya never felt this calm. Despite Weiss sticking out like a sore thumb, everyone ignored him. He tried a greeting or two, but it was if no one could hear him. That's when he saw a shack, a dusty old mill, just waiting for him. For whatever reason, Weiss felt like he was being called inside. "Is this a dream? Some sort of illusion?" This wasn't real, none of what he was seeing was real. Trippy.

Inside of the shack was an old man wearing a kimono. Definitely Japanese, he had black hair with strips of gray. He moved slowly and he didn't turn his head as he pointed out to Weiss, "You must find this place strange. Coming from the city." This old man didn't bother looking up from his work. He was repairing some sort of stone grinder. "It's different isn't it?" He said filling a bag of rice and gently placing it on a rope. The calm on his face was the kind of thing achieved with old age and coming to terms with ones own existence. This guy must have been ancient.

Weiss nodded a moment and took a better look around him, "This isn't Shibuya at all. I'm not even sure if we're in Japan." It was a stretch, there might be somewhere like this somewhere in Japan. But Weiss didn't see the possibility now. There wasn't anywhere like this at all.

The old man rose from his spot and motioned for Weiss to walk with him. Weiss walked with him and remained somewhat on edge. He didn't like the fact he didn't know where he was. The man began to explain, "This is... or rather was Japan a long time ago. In an era when I was Composer. I am Shibuya's first Composer. It was my duty to watch over this land and protect the peace. So there was peace for a very long time. It wasn't a very difficult job for me the first years. But Japan has seen much under my watch. There are many times I had to watch as sunrise turned to violence. Violence always faded, I am glad of this. Japan has always returned to this quiet... this peace. It's lovely isn't it?"

Weiss found himself frustrated for some reason, "Why am I here? Is this an ambush designed by the Noise?"

The old Japanese man turned slowly and found himself amused, "A young man if there ever was one. Impatient and suspicious. You are a credit to your generation. I have brought you here to teach you and tell you a story, my story." With an open hand he showed a picture of feudal lords in battle. Weiss and he stood atop a hill overseeing a great battle.

"My name is Ryuho. As the first Composer I had the living play a very different game. It was not a game you could win or lose. It was only a game to comfort and allowing the dead to find peace. Whether they embraced peace or not was not the point. All I could do was guide. Help them understand the true simplicity of death. Death was not something that could be cheated, there was no reapers and there was no more battles in death. I had seen enough battles and trials in life. I believed in death you should find peace." The old man turned and looked at Weiss with an engaging stare, "Give pause and think of could have happened."

Weiss had to guess, "Something changed. Shibuya is nothing like that. Neither is Japan. They'd be restless until their grave. There could never be enough trials in life to satisfy them. There are few now who could find peace."

Ryuho agreed, "Finding peace after the many trials of life, started to be too much. Even I as the Composer could not make a game for every soul to come to terms with death. That is when I realized I needed assistance. Those who would hunt restless souls who could never find peace. Restless spirits of dead who wander."

Weiss realized what he was being told, "The reapers were brought in to force the wandering spirits into peace. They hunted the restless spirits who couldn't be calm."

Ryuho looked in the distance, "The reapers were a necessary change. A reaper could take negative energy and weaponize it. They sought out the unrelenting and brought them to rest. Be the reapers good or evil, they served their purpose. They brought to rest the countless soldiers that wandered the fields that would not lay. The game I had made was neverending, the only design was to one day make them see they didn't have to fight further. Perhaps I should have known then where this would lead. More conflict."

Weiss just had to speculate, "The population of Japan grew and after the wars... The peace you once knew started to fade. The quiet you learned to love vanished."

Ryuho gave a quick nod, "I as Composer did what I could. I used my power to help those that died. But I did not change my game. I held on to the idea that there could always be some who found peace in their death. The more time passed, the less I understood. Japan was changing. It was growing, it was becoming a different animal. An animal that could not be tamed by an old man's desire for peace and quiet. Towns became cities. Warriors became rulers. The generations shifted, perhaps there were some who saw my view. A shogunate wished for swords to be taken away. Not for the sake of peace, but for the sake of control. The empire of Japan wanted to change I suppose it was only a matter of time before my own reapers wished to be rid of me."

Weiss could see what Ryuho was doing, he wanted to show Weiss what changed. How the reapers game evolved. "It ended with only a select few being able to find peace. Something had to be done to put the spirits to rest. So whatever new Composer came along made the game not about peace, but about Erasing the very existence of spirits."

Ryuho frowned at the thought, "It wasn't anything half so elegant. The one who took the position of Composer was an evil man. He was mad at a birth, he was powerful in death. I learned of him when one of my most powerful reapers failed to destroy him. I did not risk the erasure of other reapers, I intended to battle against this man myself. His name was Hirashi and he wanted to change the game of Shibuya. He said that Japan was full of far too many spirits, he said that the population was far too great. All of the regret and negative emotion needed to be cleansed. He said that there should be a mass culling. That the reapers should be a force who exist for cleansing the Underground of all the restless spirits. He said the slow process I created was too slow. That the spirits needed to be purged and forced to move on."

Weiss actually didn't catch the next part, "So then you lost? How? You were Composer."

Ryuho found the thought amusing, "You seem to think me immortal. Something that cannot be killed. All Composers can die. That is why others try to become us. They seek to have the position to themselves. The Composer that came after me was a true monster. Not the one you know today. Hirashi used promises of power to turn my own reapers against me. The unrested souls stood against me as well. Powerful as I was, Japan had changed. Composers draw their power from the area they rule. Making them the most formidable of opponents against any foe. We are the protectors of the spirit world, or the Underground. Our power is based on a sort of empathy or understanding we have have the area we rule. I for a long time, understood. It was when Shibuya... Japan... the world changed. That I was weakened. War and conflict became part of our nature. Peace was impossible. Hirashi understood my own land more than I did. That's why my powers betrayed me. He killed me with the very power I drew from. He turned my reapers, my land and my power against me. That is how I met my end. That is when the system changed."

Weiss didn't know of Hirashi, but it was for the best. He didn't know suffering he was missing out on. It was like describing the past to a child who had no experience of it. Weiss wasn't able to fully comprehend what it must have been like. "So he was the opposite of you, he was violent. He didn't want peace."

Ryuho looked forward at the sun which was now setting. He bowed his head a little and gave Weiss this warning. "Hirashi is going to be brought back,and he will be your most powerful opponent. He is the one who made reapers agent of destruction, he is the one who made my process of cleansing the dead into peace... a conflict. 'A game' he called it. He forced spirits to do battle with one another for his amusement. He held tournaments where what are now called 'Players' would do battle or be Erased. He was deliberately caused death in the real world. Instead of the dead purging themselves of negative emotion, it grew and grew. Although it grew while I was Composer, the negative emotion and feelings were gradually cleansed. These negative emotions after my death, became a very real threat. They spread uncontrolled and rampant."

Weiss knew what he was talking about, "The Noise?"

Ryuho gave a quick nod, "That is what you call them. It wasn't just here... all around the world Noise always existed, they were just a force that needed to be fought. Instead of fighting the Noise, as humans should, we instead embraced them. We bred them. Conflict and hatred. The clashing of swords in the Underground made them worse and worse. Hirashi did nothing. He laughed as they spread and taught his reapers merge with the power of the Noise. Although it was a technique that was possible during my rule, it was not a common practice. As Noise grew more powerful, it became less and less of a choice. You could either join the Noise, or they would attack you. There were some who fought the Noise, but my generation all but vanished. The reapers who infused their power with Noise were made their ally. The Noise could be controlled. As the Noise grew in power, it became more and more important to make Noise your ally. If you were the enemy of the Noise, then you would be slaughtered, either by Noise or reapers."

Weiss went ahead and questioned, "What happened next?"

Ryuho shifted the scene they stood in to Shibuya filling with Noise. And Hirashi just sitting on a throne watching them. "The angels had to act. An angel was sent to choose a new Composer, one that would be an improvement of his predecessor. The angel they sent?"

Weiss was pretty sure, "They sent Hanekoma."

Ryuho nodded, "He found someone, a young boy who at a very young age was able to see the spirits around him. It was difficult to imagine. But a boy like that could be without rival. The amount of creativity and imagination this boy had was unparalleled. He was groomed by Hanekoma, he was taught to become the new Composer."

Weiss frowned at that thought. Someone actually picked Joshua? It was Hanekoma no less. Joshua must have been different then. Joshua back then was probably an idealist or someone who wanted to do good. But after years of being Composer, probably lost sight of his original goals. "Joshua killed Hirashi? How? Just by being more powerful?"

Ryuho showed an image of Joshua as a very young boy standing against Hirashi. Behind him were reapers: Kitaniji, Minamimoto, Kariya and Konishi. There were many more too, Players and reapers. They stood against the awesome power of a Composer and backing them was Hanekoma. They fought using every resource they had. Be they good or evil, Joshua accepted aid. They were promised positions of power or a better Shibuya. Countless forces stood against Hirashi in much the same way I was killed. Hirashi was killed, but there was very little that could be changed. Joshua was not as powerful as he had hoped. He was no god. He could not Erase the Noise with his new power.

Weiss gulped, this didn't sound good. If a Composer couldn't get rid of the Noise what could? Were they just going to have to live with them? The reapers may have always used Noise, but they didn't always infuse their essence with the Noise directly. Hirashi developed the technique and opened Pandora's box. "What about now? "Then what did Joshua change? What has Joshua accomplished?"

Ryuho found it amusing, "It is strange to hear you ask as if he could do anything. The Noise are more powerful than the Composer. The reapers who remained were all infused with the Noise and the Noise could not be removed from them any easier than removing it from Shibuya. So... Joshua changed at least one thing. Reapers would not fight Players. They were to send Noise to face them. With every player fighting Noise and every reaper sending Noise after them. The growth of Noise was greatly slowed. Over seven days Noise could be destroyed and on the last of the seven days. A powerful reaper who had been infused with the Noise was chosen. Eventually, there would be less and less reapers who had Noise forms. It was a bitter process, but it had some results. Some reapers do not infuse themselves with the Noise. Some do... but they are often killed."

Weiss saw what Joshua did. He changed the objective of missions to mostly destroying Noise. Even so there was a lot of unnecessary other objectives. "Did he make the game what it was?"

Ryuho did have some answers still, "Ultimately all games were battles with Noise. Players to enter the game had to enter with a price. Prices like these have power. By taking prices from Players they become more powerful for it. The price both motivates a player to act and helps them understand themselves. It is by using the price he assists the dead come to terms with their deaths. If the price is not returned, the player is destroyed with their negative emotion. By using Players prices, he prevents Players from making more Noise. Every price that is not returned, works to slow the process which Noise are spread."

Weiss still didn't like the idea of prices, "I can see the ingenuity, but it's still wrong."

Ryuho actually agreed, "I don't approve of this new Composer's methods. However the system he made offers all Players a chance of life. Something I did not do and Hirashi was incapable of. Joshua introduced the concept of giving life back to the dead. That I feel is the biggest change to the game. Perhaps it was his intention in the first place when he became Composer to find a way to bring back the dead. He found his method, but even so. The Noise grew in power all the same."

Weiss knew the rest of the story. "I have heard what happened after that. Joshua thought about destroying Shibuya to get rid of the Noise." Well maybe that was just ONE reason. Joshua may have really been sick of Shibuya and thought it beyond saving.

Ryuho now skipped to the future, "Many years have passed since Joshua became Composer. He has lost his way, he will need help to find it again. He has seen much death and now faces old enemies. He will need your help, he will need everyone to come to him when the time comes. Think what you will of Joshua, but in the face of the Noise, you must make him your ally. Joshua stands against an opponent that can kill him. He is more vulnerable than he has ever been. I ask that you help him. For the sake of Shibuya. I ask that you all help him and work together against the Noise."

Weiss didn't seem to have much of a choice, "I may not always like what he does, but I'll do my best."

Ryuho showed Weiss one last image before the dream started coming to an end. It was an image of Hirashi holding Neku up by the shirt and Joshua by the neck. He was laughing as Noise flooded the city. "This is a dream. You will soon awaken and the visions you have seen shall fade. Your memory of my words must not fade, listen well. If you do not act soon, Joshua and Neku shall die. Gather what forces you are able and come to their aid. You must do this, for I cannot. My time has been spent. Heed my words and my warnings and Shibuya will yet survive. Cacophony sings, put an end to his song." He started to fade away and Weiss felt sleepy. He felt his consciousness fade and felt himself fall to the ground. He was going to wake up soon and he needed to. Neku and Joshua were in trouble.

XXX

Shiki felt a certain amount of relief for waking up in her own body. Part of her remembered why her price was her appearance. It reminded her she was jealous of Eri. In some ways she was still jealous, but at least she had her own life. When Shiki opened her eyes she was in an all too familiar place: the street. How many times had she woken up in the middle of the street? Too many.

She leaned her body up and rubbed her face. The concrete always said 'hello' as the same time as back aches. Funny how that was. Well it wasn't really funny, especially not at the time. She had more important things to worry about. "The Clash, that's right." She never did hear exactly how the clash worked. Something about the Noise reviving old reapers. The thought never occurred to her that they could get Rhyme, but then the Noise had a talent for getting under your skin. Shiki had enough trouble for one week, or more accurately her entire life. Most people didn't have to go through what she did, but then again she always gained new friends out of the trying experiences. From her first game she met Neku, gained self confidence and started the first step into mending her relationship with her best friend. All in all, dying had perks.

"Did you sleep well, Shiki?" She jumped at the voice behind her and for good reason. It was Kitaniji. He was one of the Echoes, "My apologies if I startled you." His voice always had a way of sounding non-threatening. Might have been the look on his face or the fact he was sitting relaxed on a park bench.

Shiki didn't feel sleepy for very long. This guy may have helped them earlier, but he was both a Noise and in the form of the Conductor. He was a deadly foe, one who was both clever and powerful. He was Conductor for a reason. Shiki wanted to know what he was up to, "Shouldn't you have attacked while I slept?"

Kitaniji kept his posture pretty chill. There wasn't much about him that said he was the type to attack you without warning, "That would violate the rules. Even the Clash has a system of order that was designed by those above us. You'll find order in many things, even in chaos." Kitaniji seemed comfortable enough in the park bench. Half of the bench was broken, but he seemed comfortable enough.

Shiki might have tried to sit down next to him, but there were two reasons why she didn't. One: she didn't trust him and all. Two: Her seat wasn't there. Maybe he could elaborate more on the rules, "So what are the rules to the Clash?"

Kitaniji wasn't the type to give straight answers when he didn't want to. Actually that was part of his old job. Give answers, but not to give too many answers. Kitaniji told her just barely enough to get by, "There's always rules and games being played by the angels. However there aren't any rules that will effect you personally. All you need know is this: defend yourself when the Noise attack." He motioned at the nearby wall. "You're not going to receive help from anyone who isn't already inside these barriers. You've been caged since you were asleep. I too am trapped, until all three Players that are within are Erased. The barriers will all fall the moment I am defeated or if all Players are Erased. Not that it really matters."

Shiki didn't like this. She was going to have to fight Kitaniji? That's something she wouldn't want to do in a group of any size. Shiki remembered the last time she fought him he found a way of controlling her using a red skull pin. To some degree that was humiliating. She had to fight her friends for half of the battle. But at the flip side of that Kitaniji's plan didn't seem so bad when she heard it. I mean, she knew it was wrong and all. But Kitaniji always had this sense of honor to him, he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for Shibuya. Maybe that's one reason she was able to be controlled, part of her sympathized. Looking back, she would have fought him all the same and felt no regret for stopping him. Then again, Joshua turned out to be the real villain. The whole game, all of their battles and all of those erasures were all part of some elaborate ploy he came up with. Joshua was the reason she saw Rhyme get Erased. Joshua was the reason Neku had to play the game three times. Joshua was the reason Kitaniji turned to desperation and resorted to underhanded tactics. What was worse was the reason: Joshua wanted to destroy Shibuya. Kitaniji wanted to stop him, everyone wanted to stop him. A lot of people got hurt in those games from Joshua. Even then Kitaniji had to answer to her, "May I ask you something. I know you're not really Kitaniji... but I still need to ask. Did you really believe what you were doing was the right thing?"

Kitaniji looked at his hand as if to remember the timer. It was the timer Joshua put on him, the time he had to Erase Neku. "I saw myself as saving Shibuya. My reasoning was simple. Everyone would be Erased if I failed. At first... I followed the rules. I picked a powerful reaper who would Erase both you and Neku. My real target was of course Neku from the start. I would have Erased him then, if he had not partnered with you..." Kitaniji smirked and looked at the floor. He seemed to appreciate how things worked out, "You may say Neku saved you. But it was you who opened him up to Shibuya. You were the reason he beat the Reaper's Game. The missions would have ended him without your aid. If he had partnered with anyone but you. He would not have survived. If you had found someone else, you too would have been Erased. You saved each other. It's romantic isn't it?"

Shiki could hear the defeat in Kitaniji's voice. He was bitter, his plan should have worked. Shiki frowned and looked away, "We were fighting for our rights to exist. We had a right to exist. Joshua put everything on Neku and everyone Neku partnered with. He should have risked his own life from the start."

Kitaniji looked up to the sky instead of the ground, "He did risk his life. That's the second reason I failed. From the very beginning I was working on the assumption he would somehow survive. I knew he would survive the first week. That's why I had him prepare the red pins. That's why I sent Sho Minamimoto after him. Minamimoto was a wildcard, a man who could not be controlled. He was a veteran who had helped me once in my time of need. It pained me to think the Composer would stand against me as he did. But Minamimoto was the most likely one to end that foolish game. At great price, but Minamimoto promised to do what I could not. He claimed to Erase the Composer who was now protecting his proxy. I did not know how far he would go. He always surprised me, but either he would succeed or fail. Whatever the cost, Erasing Neku and Joshua was more important. If Joshua was left to his devices, I believed he would destroy this city I loved. I don't pretend to know his reasons, but I needed to stop him."

Shiki felt like she was helping him in a way. He never got to tell anyone why he did what he did. Perhaps the Noise he infected shared that regret and wanted to make some sort of amendment. "That's when you cheated. You used every loophole you could to destroy Neku."

Kitaniji stood and turned away, "That's when I was truly lost. I gave up playing fair, I lost faith in Shibuya. I used underhanded tactics to guarantee my victory. Telling myself all the time it was for the best, but if you look at what happened. All the destruction that came after, was on my hands. So I pushed my plan in motion, my plan to unite Shibuya. I used the O-pins to control reaper and player alike. Really I changed nothing, even if I had succeeded, what would that change? I did not change Shibuya's nature, I did not save it. I merely created a forced sense of unification. As Conductor I used all of my power to manipulate the very city I swore to protect. If I had succeeded I would have failed. You see... there were powers above me that would never allow me to continue."

Shiki guessed, "What the angels? Would they have put a stop to that?"

Kitaniji laughed at the idea, "The angels... yes, I suppose even they would act. But the mere mental strain would have destroyed me. I couldn't control that many people forever, my mental fortitude would have fallen sooner or later. I was hoping to lead by example, to unite the world. I united no one, I merely robbed them of choice. I may not have shown it then, but the negative energy from every human being in Shibuya filled my mind. It was then that I lost. When I chose to make Shibuya my enemy. My greatest regret was the very last week. I can't guess how long I would have lasted before I destroyed myself from the inside out. I can't ask for forgiveness, I cannot make amends. Not anymore. I can only give you this warning. Joshua is in danger as is Neku. They are against an opponent who is beyond their capability. During the Clash, neither of them will have the power of the Composer. They are both strong, but even with their strength. If they are to survive you must save them."

Shiki didn't know what he was talking about. Neku and Joshua were in trouble? Those two were strong enough to handle anything even without Composer powers. What would they need her help with? Why was Kitaniji telling her this? Was he really a Noise? "There's someone who could kill them? Who?"

Kitaniji walked a little further away and felt his face. The symbol on his face started to glow, "It looks like the Noise are growing restless. But I'll tell you his name at least... Hirashi the god-slayer. He's going to kill Joshua, it won't take long. If you're to have the smallest prayer of defeating him, you'll need to work together. The path will open if I am Erased." The seal on his face started to fill and the look on his face started to change. It looked like he was having trouble speaking and he was grunting to keep control of himself, "It seems I said too much. My apologies Shiki, but it looks like the conversation may end a little shorter than intended. Thank you for listening as long as you have."

At that point Shiki had an urge to see if he was alright. But she knew what was wrong, she kept her distance. Her face hardened, she knew what was going on. "You may have Kitaniji's regrets and negative emotions, but you're not him. You're still a Noise. Kitaniji's nature will only hold you back so far."

Kitaniji strained himself and smiled, "It seems that our desires are at conflict. Fear not, for all is resolved. Ultimately Kitaniji serves the Noise. The warning he gave you serves no real purpose. We must wait for your allies to arrive, I'm sure they're both awake by now."

Boy, he was right. No sooner had he said that then two Players came running towards Shiki ready to kick some ass. The first was Eri, "Shiki! The Director let me know what was going on, I'm here to help against the Echoes. I'm glad you're not hurt." It looked like none of the Echoes fought her yet.

Kitaniji was one such Echo, "You must be Eri. You're the one who Shiki was jealous of are you not? We've never met, you can call me Kitaniji, but I am an Echo."

Eri was immediately defensive, "Why haven't you tried to Erase Shiki yet?"

Kitaniji told the truth, "Because that would be against the game rules. Noise have to wait until all three of you are awake. After that they can attack whenever they want. You're right to be on your guard, I could attack at any time." It didn't sound like he was going to attack, though.

Thanatos approached Shiki and Eri. "Wow... everyone here has history but me. I'm Thanatos."

Kitaniji had some encouragement, "You seem relaxed enough. Thanatos was it? Honored. I am the former Conductor of Shibuya. Also I am the one you shall need to Erase to pass. On the other end awaits an opponent more powerful than myself. And of course if you fail to get past me before the day is up, you are Erased. The barriers will deactivate whenever there is a victor on either side."

Thanatos found this guy odd, "Well... that was helpful information. That means if someone else wins against their opponent, they might come help us. Is there a particular reason you're helping us?"

Kitaniji had more than one reason, "I suppose I inherited some of Kitaniji's goodwill. You may attack me whenever you wish. I am ready whenever you are. If you need a moment to prepare, I don't mind." That smirk on his face was cool and uncaring. His hands remained hidden in his pockets almost to let them know he wasn't going to be swinging anytime soon. Not that a trick like that would make anyone drop their guard.

Eri told Shiki, "If we don't Erase him before the day is up. We lose right? So he's stalling! It's not about him being nice."

Kitaniji didn't object to that, "True, but there would be much better ways for me to stall than tell you inner workings of the Clash. Players in the Clash generally are left in the dark on what they must do. But yes, I suppose I am stalling. If you want to kill me as quickly as possible I'd understand."

Thanatos took the cue and tried to get in a cheap shot. His Noise ambushed Kitaniji from behind and he ambushed him from the front. The girls added to it by flanking him to the right and left. Kitaniji stood there with his hands in his pockets and there wasn't even a look of surprise on his face. Ambushed at all sides? Well that seemed familiar. He'd been ambushed before, actually he'd been ambushed a lot. As Conductor it was more or less a prerequisite to be able to handle being ambushed. Kitaniji actually let them get pretty close before he just vanished.

Thanatos, his Noise, Shiki, Mr. Mew and Eri all had to stop from hitting one another. Kitaniji somehow got out? Shiki knew how, "He can freeze time! And he can teleport!" All of them turned around to see where he teleported to. Wherever he was one of them was going to see him. Shiki continued her explanation while they looked to see where he went, "While time is frozen you'll need to use your willpower to escape. He's got some powerful attacks he can charge up while you're stunned, but there's usually a way to avoid them." Seriously, where did he go? There were plenty of buildings he could hide behind and plenty of places he ambush them from. Where would she ambush from? Oh crap! Shiki started to turn around and realized, all of their backs were turned away from where he just teleported away from.

"Usually." His voice said from behind her. Then he blasted Shiki as turned with one hand and Eri with the other. Teleportation was a really broken ability. Guess it made sense he was Conductor. Of course it had a few limitations, but not enough to make it fair. Thanatos was caught off guard too, but Kitaniji didn't hit him. He managed to avoid a punishing strike, if he had picked to hit Thanatos first he wouldn't have dodged. Thanatos readied his Noise and had it fire several fireballs at Kitaniji. The Conductor wasn't hit. He zipped to the left and then had to avoid Mr. Mew. He may have hit Shiki, but he forgot Mr. Mew. The stuffed animal made copies of itself and all of them did a rushing attack. Rather than try to hit him, they merely limited where he could go. "You've improved." Kitaniji teleported away once again. When he teleported he picked a nice little spot where he could hit Shiki.

Shiki was the biggest threat to him. She was the most experienced psych user and she had all of her memories now. What was worse is she fought him first hand, so obviously he teleported to her while Mr. Mew wasn't there to defend. When he teleported Shiki didn't even turn around. It's as if she didn't expect that he would teleport behind her. Perhaps she was worried about her friends? A crippling weakness. He readied his arm to blast her, but he couldn't move forward. Why?

Eri's psych! She set up some sort of string trap using that needle and thread. One of the limitations of teleporting was you couldn't teleport right after you already teleported. Sure you could every couple of seconds, but he couldn't do it twice in a row. Eri stopped him right after he teleported so that's when she used her needle to stab into him and her string strands to glow with energy. The energy stands burned and electrocuted. They were pretty handy for making a trap too. Unfortunately for her, she just earned Kitaniji's attention.

"Time be still."

Everything changed to gray, what little movement there was stopped. From Eri's perspective she could see Kitaniji appear before her. Start charging up dark attack that could utterly destroy her. She kept willing herself to move, but she wouldn't. She was frozen and nothing could move. Before the attack connected, Mr. Mew tackled Kitaniji and interrupted his attack. All of the gray from the area faded. The stuffed animal split into three and all of them shot little beams from their eyes. Shiki definitely couldn't do that before. Kitaniji avoided some of the blast, but not all of it. He teleported behind Eri this time. She could move now, but it didn't matter. Kitaniji readied a blast as she tried to move out of the way. Kitaniji's arm was grabbed by Thanatos. "This'll hurt." The blue haired male told him. "One hand controls my Noise, the other... can disrupt psyches."

Thanatos didn't let go of Kitaniji's wrist, and with his free hand he hit the Conductor with his closed fist. That was the hand he disrupted with, blue energy distorted the area. Kitaniji would have tried to teleport if there was a point. Thanatos was right, he wasn't going to use his teleportation psych after a hit like that. What made it worse was when Eri sent that needle of hers whirling around and tying his legs. The Noise dragon Thanatos had launched a fireball. It was going to hit Kitaniji. So instead of taking the hit, he decided to make use of the fool who was so stubbornly keeping grip on his arm. Kitaniji took his free hand and grabbed Thanatos by the neck. He turned to put Thanatos between the fireball and himself. His arm outstretched and still choking Thanatos, it was easy to swing Thanatos in the way which effectively made the blue player a shield.

The fireball was getting closer, only an instant away. Before it hit Thanatos, Mr. Mew got in the way smacked the fireball in a completely different direction. Which wouldn't have been a problem except another Mr. Mew kicked the fireball again to another angle. Then another Mr. Mew kicked that fireball elsewhere. The fireball was kicked in a full semi circle and into the back of Kitaniji. It caused a massive blue explosion. Wow, that was pretty impressive. Thanatos got thrown back, but luckily Kitaniji took most of the damage, "That was pretty beast."

Eri had to compliment her best friend, "Wow Shiki, I'm really impressed."

Shiki got wide eyed and had to tackle her best friend to avoid her being crushed by the end of an extremely large tail. "Get back!"

Red skin surrounded them. Yellow eyes stared them down. They were surrounded by a massive reptile. The sheer size of it was intimidating, but despite the size, it was actually good at attacking fast. A fierce bite lashed out and teeth bit through a building when it missed.

Kitaniji had turned into the world's biggest snake. Because last Eri checked the largest snake in the circus was 48 feet long and weighed under 2 tons. Kitaniji was thirty times that. The very moment the Conductor transformed into his Noise form he had them surrounded. Eri would have been eaten if Shiki hadn't rescued her.

The noise had a different voice than Kitaniji's human form. One noteworthy thing was that its mouth didn't actually move when it talked. "It's difficult to remember how you used to be jealous of her." The noise began to speak where all of them could hear. "But what were you jealous of her for? Her looks? Was it the fact that she was loved and you weren't? Was it because you were weak and she was strong? What was it exactly?"

Shiki didn't answer and tried attacking the snake via Mr. Mew. They weren't attacks that were meant to really harm, just shut him up. The snake didn't shut up, it lashed out a few attacks of his own and almost broke Shiki's concentration. "What was it? Tell me. Tell her. She's your best friend after all, you surely told her." This wasn't Kitaniji talking, this was a Noise. It was a noise reading her negative emotions and using it against her. It was working to some degree. But definitely not something that would distract her enough to make a difference.

The snake kept attacking and they kept avoiding. "If I were Eri, I would be upset or at the very least curious. I would be very curious."

Eri caught on what it was trying to do, they were pacted. They were partners even before this game. They worked together to make their own clothing line. Trying to shake up their friendship was a pointless effort. Eri used her psych and shot the equivalent of spear sized needle at the noise. The beast said something that made the needle shrink before it impacted, "That she is no longer jealous of anything you have. There's nothing about you she wishes to be. You've diminished."

Why did that bother her? Shiki was jealous of her, she knew that. That was easy to accept. What wasn't easy to accept was that everything changed. Shiki wasn't jealous of her, Shiki didn't need her like the old days. Shiki used to idolize Eri in a number of ways. Now? She was just a friend. Sometimes not even her best friend.

Eri caught herself and managed to avoid the Echo's strike. Damn him! Leave it to a Noise unresolved issues. "Shiki don't let up! Keep hitting it!"

The snake continued, "She has accomplished much, she has found love. She has found her dream, she was gracious enough to offer you a seat next to her. The situation changed hasn't it? You no longer hold power, she's moved past you hasn't she? But you can't. You can't accept the fact that you don't mean anything, not anymore. She used to be fragile... she used to be the weak one... she was the one who looked up to you. Now who is fragile? Who is weak? I think we all know."

Eri tried to cover her ears, it didn't matter if she did or not. She heard him just as loud regardless. "That's not..." She began to reason to herself.

Shiki was bothered too, but she managed to keep fighting. Thanatos was actually attacking too, but it was difficult to see what he was doing.

The snake looked at Shiki and kept up his assault, "Although it seems things have changed they really haven't. Eri used to be your role model. Has it ever occurred that you might become hers? You knew didn't you? You're proud things have changed, that she's the one who's weak now. Your glad she's the one hurting and not you! Admit!" The snake may have been talking to Shiki, but he was aiming at hurting Eri. It was actually working. Eri's psych was weakening. Shiki could feel it. "You're superior now aren't you? After all, you're the one with Neku. What does she have? You? She lost you long ago."

Shiki tried so say something. Anything. But there was nothing. Her heart sank, there wasn't anything she could do or say to make her friend feel better. Was Eri really in that much pain? Was it really that big of a deal? No way.

Now even Shiki felt her psych weakening. That definitely wasn't a good sign. It didn't take much for the giant snake to prove he had to upper hand. Well he didn't have hands; he had teeth and a rather large body. The Echo smacked Shiki away and left Eri to pitifully try to use her psych. Not nearly strong enough to phase the super Noise. "Stay where you are and rot away!"

He didn't reach Shiki before a noise dragon came crashing down on his head. It tried breathing fire the snake, but it didn't seem to harm him in any major way. It did manage to keep her from being eaten. Then Shiki managed to use Mr. Mew to push that giant head of his somewhere else. Thanatos had some words of wisdom, "Stop getting distracted! You'll fight like girls!"

The snake of course had something for Thanatos, not an attack, but words. "Speaking of girls... there was one in particular you always wanted to impress. Was there not? One you made a promise to. A promise you fail to keep. That if you were ever separated on earth, that then you would meet in the afterlife am I wrong?"

Thanatos tried not to listen to him any more than he had to, "This guy doesn't know anything, he's using our negative emotions against us. It won't work if you don't let it!" The boy tried to fight back and he actually did a decent job. He managed to smack his hand against the snake and the blue static did some damage.

The noise was going to do some damage of his own, "I suppose you haven't told them about your relationship to Neku have you?" The reaction on Thanatos' face was priceless. "Ah yes, he's one of the reasons you killed yourself. Isn't he the one who got you blacklisted from the entertainment industry?"

Thanatos didn't look back at Shiki, the look on his face would have revealed too much. Thanatos kept fighting the monster, but his hands were shaking now. It looked like he was nervous now, normally not a big deal. But Thanatos wasn't nervous about the snake. He was worried what the snake might reveal. "It'd be better to cram my head up my ass than listen to you."

"Yet you still listen. You're angry, you don't even try to hide it. You're angry at everyone related to him. You're still angry. You're angry she died and you're angry about why she died. Her father was already dead, but the reason you were never successful was because one of the most powerful men in Shibuya blacklisted you. What was it he told you? What did he tell you about your art?"

Thanatos kept silent and his eyes wandered behind him. Shiki, that was his wife. "It doesn't matter now." He looked back at the snake knowing full well that it had already paved the path into his mind. That thing was going to get to him, no question.

"If you hadn't have been blacklisted by him? What did you call him? 'That senseless bastard'? If you had gotten the job when you did, you might have had the resources to save her? To take her away? To actually have a shot to live your life? Neku was the one! It was just good business! He couldn't have your talent for himself so he silenced you! Your artwork made it all the way up to the top of Darklit Entertainment only to be shot down by the head? What for? Did he even have a reason? Did he even give you the courtesy of what he didn't like? Her father may have killed her but you failed to save her. Admit it! You failed! If Neku hadn't shot down your art, then it wouldn't have happened would it? You know much better things would be it weren't for Neku! Your heart and mind agree! Part of it was his fault! Why is it that he's living happily with the woman of his dreams and you aren't?! Why is it he caused you suffering?! Answer!" The snake glared at him as words drilled into the poor boy's soul.

"Eat shit... Eat your own shit..." Thanatos growled as was trying to compose himself. There were tears starting to well up on his face. "What does a bastard Echo like you know anyway?!" That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

The Echo actually relaxed himself, "You want revenge do you not? The thought has already crossed your mind, hasn't it? She's right there, weaker than she's ever been. I'd let you. I'd help even help you. Do you want Neku to know what pain he caused? You do. The thought of killing her has crossed your mind many times. Yes, even now she understands. Do you see that? Fear. She's afraid of you, she's right not to trust you now. I shall offer you a marvelous choice. If you allow me safe passage, if you stop fighting against the noise. You shall have your revenge. Neku shall know your suffering. Then he may look you in eye and there will be no need for useless words. He will know that suffering begets suffering. Life is fair is it not? That you were given this chance to cause him pain? I offer you this on behalf of the one who commands me: stand down and you shall be spared Shibuya's destruction. You shall live and they shall die."

The snake held back a moment. They all did, wondering what Thanatos would do. Surely he wasn't going to agree to that madness? There was a pained look on his face, it wasn't logical at all. The Echo had gotten to him. It seemed satisfied enough to slither past him. He could easily let Shiki and Eri die. He'd get off free. His arms were shaking and he was looking at the floor.

Power faded from his pact. He was giving up. That bastard was just going to let them die? No way? Eri felt helpless. She tried to use her psych to save Shiki but it was pathetic. Dammit! She needed help! Shiki needed help! No one could fight that monster alone.

Shiki almost fell to her knees. Not one, but two people were very jealous of her life. That they didn't have a chance like she did. One used to be her idol, but she could feel the negative emotion. Shiki was weak, her real strength wasn't herself. It was the fact she could bond with people that she could empathize with them. Now that was a weakness. She could feel Eri and Thanatos. They both were hurting. It bothered her; it just bothered her.

The Echo approached unhindered, "What did you deserve to be happy? Neku is the strong one, not you. The only reason you're anything at all is thanks to him. You haven't accomplished anything on your own. It would be better if you disappeared. If you were Erased." The snake started charging a blast which could easily vaporize Shiki. Her legs were shaking and it was too much for her to handle. The sudden pain Thanatos went through and the looming jealous that built up over time of Eri. It felt like it was her fault. She couldn't feel their bonds. They were going to let her die... she was going to die. That's when she realized how weak she really was. She felt the abandoned and lonely. Her fighting spirit was gone. She had her own issues too, she was Neku's shadow. She didn't matter, she never did.

It was that moment she felt a tug. She completely lost her balance and was immediately yanked out of the way of being blasted to death. Her feet were wrapped by a glowing thread and before the Echo could attack again Thanatos sent his dragon noise to tackle it in the head. "Would have been more tempting if I died and they lived, dumbass."

Now something was different. The power of their psyches were going back up. Eri managed to shake out of her slump? How? The Echo made sure to make her negative emotions overwhelming. It wasn't just using words, but actually force feeding them thoughts of despair. They were supposed to stop fighting, this wasn't something you could recover from in a few seconds. What changed?

Eri gave that snake a fierce look, "I'm not letting you touch my best friend. I may not have enough power to hurt you, but I'm not just going to sit back and let you hurt her!"

Shiki seemed touched by the sentiment. She stood up and dodged a snake tail attack. The Echo said, "You want to be her shadow? You aren't important... not anymore."

Eri growled at the monster, "So what? If I'm not important then I'm not important. I don't need to be better than Shiki I'm myself. Even if I am jealous of Shiki, that's all the more reason I should be happy. I should be happy for her."

Eri's psych reached the size of a spear and she sent the golden needle into the snake twisting the string around its jaws. The dragon noise also took the time to charge up a fireball of it's own.

Thanatos began to say his part, "One of the reasons I killed myself was I was sick and tired hearing crap like this. Yeah, Neku shot down my work, but I knew why. It had a message that conflicted with his ideals. In art an artist can communicate. What I was saying wasn't really all that important to a lot of people. But more or less the art was about admitting defeat or giving in to depression. Neku didn't want to see that. Yeah... he burned me for it. And you know what, I'd kick his ass if it were worth it... it isn't. I just want to go see my girl again, I didn't want to experience any more pain or let anyone else go through what I went through... I may not like Neku, but I'll be damned if I let anyone else know what it feels like to lose their woman. Eat shit and die!"

Thanatos punched his arm into the snake and sent all of his power into a shock attack. As powerful as a supernoise was, he wasn't going to be able to move very well with that going on. "Get em."

While the noise was shocked Shiki began thinking of ways to hurt it. That snake was huge easy for any attack to hit it. There had to be something heavy hitting she had. Well... there wasn't anything big enough to kill that thing. "Hold it still." Shiki said as she started looking for someplace higher to go. "I need to get on top of a building or higher."

Thanatos used his free hand and grunted. His noise dragon swooped in and grabbed Shiki. It pulled her up and soared up in the air. "Shocking him isn't enough, hold him down." The snake slowly managed to wrap itself around Thanatos. It was going to crush him to death. He wasn't going to escape while keeping up his on the snake. He kept pouring his disruption power into that snake and it crackled with electricity. He wasn't going to hold it back long.

Eri tried helping. She started wrapping that monster up with strings. If she could pin it down or stop the damned thing from moving that'd be tops. That monster wasn't going anywhere. But it was definitely going to crush Thanatos any second. "Shiki?" Eri looked up expectantly.

In the air Shiki held on to her plush doll. Then held it up. It was a bit of a stretch for this to work. But hey! Maybe it'd work. Shiki held up a fusion pin and threw Mr. Mew out of the sky toward snake. The cat positioned itself like a skydiver and flew to the ground. Shiki put what power she could into the fusion pin and didn't know what would happen with being pacted to three people.

Eri felt the fusion pin she looked up with glowing eyes and sent all of her soul into the psych. Her thread around the snake started glowing a gold color chaining it to where it was. No matter how it thrashed it wasn't going to be free. She sunk that needle of hers deeper and deeper into the super noise. She was trying to punch that needle through that thick skull of his. It wasn't going through even with Shiki's power. "Useless... even with your combined power you cannot match the power of a Conductor."

Thanatos was huffing and trying to breath. He was still shocking that snake, but he did little more than keep it from thrashing too hard. It wrapped its body around him and was choking him like a boa constrictor. His power merged with the girls and his attack got more severe. His stamina went up, but that monster wasn't dying, "You aren't the damned Conductor. You're a noise pretending to be him. You couldn't even control what pieces of him you do have. You're just more pathetic than I am. I keep hoping you'll kill me, but you suck at it."

The snake tugged harder and choked him more. His idea was sound: kill him. Simple enough.

That was when the Echo realized something, what was the fusion pin doing? Shiki had it? The monster looked up while it was being held down by strings and shocked by Thanatos energy. Mr. Mew was falling towards him, what was she planning?

Shiki tried this crazy idea out. The final stage of the fusion pin started. "Everyone with me!"

"Right." Eri was having trouble holding that thing down.

"Don't worry about me." Thanatos was blacking out.

Shiki ran all of their power into Mr. Mew, who started glowing. He grew what must have been a thousand times bigger. The rate he was falling didn't change, but the cat grew and grew. The giant cat pulled its arm back for a punch. The plush doll had a giant glowing energy fist now and it kept falling. That's when the snake realized what was about it happen and it was too late. A giant Mr. Mew falling roughly at the speed of a meteor was about to punch him in the face. The cat came crashing down on the snake fist first. The glowing energy fist smashed him right on the head, not just on the head on the needle that Eri left sticking out from the top of his head. The needle was not only pushed into the monster's skull the fist went straight into the monster's head. The sheer force of it created a crater as it hit. Smoke and energy went flying in all directions. Finally an explosion complete with a mushroom cloud.

The noise monster was beaten, they found his weakness. Snakes were pretty useless without their heads. The scales of the noise were pulsing with golden energy as the attack sent all the leftover energy through the snakes entire body. The noise was erased. Laying on the ground instead of the snake was a very ragged Kitaniji. Who just smiled at them, "Well done. I've been had."

By the looks of him, he was fading. There was static all around him. The Conductor just kept smiling at them, "I really did wish to be felled by your hands. The doors are open and the barriers removed. You must go... you need to help Neku and Joshua. If you help them now there's a chance they may survive."

Shiki was listening, but Thanatos wasn't. The blue haired male told Kitaniji, "Sorry I make it a point not to take advice from people who try to... STRANGLE ME! Neku and Joshua are strong, you don't got anyone that could beat them." It was true, with both Neku and Joshua there wasn't really an opponent to date that could take both of them now. Maybe back in the day they'd have trouble, but not now.

Kitaniji wasn't finished, "Go to them. And tell Joshua... I'm sorry I gave up on Shibuya. Tell him this for me, would you?"

Shiki nodded and then right on cue Kitaniji faded. Leaving the remaining players panting on the ground. They were all tired, but even so Shiki got up. "I'm going to go find Neku. Get some rest."

Eri tried to stop her, "But you're not going to be able to fight, none of us would."

Shiki didn't really have a good response, "I don't really have a good reason... but... I'm going to try. I don't think I'd be much use, but I need to see if Neku is alright."

Thanatos got up from his spot, barely able to walk right. "Well if those two are fighting someone strong... going in and helping them would be a death wish... so obviously I'm in." He said more or less limping in the direction he needed to go.

Eri rolled her eyes and helped him along. "You're both insane. Let's go."

Point of fact: all three of them were insane. But luckily for everyone insane people are far more interesting than sane. Would anybody care what happened to them if they weren't interesting? It seemed more or less everyone in Shibuya was odd in some way or another. But like all psyche users they had something special going on. The just defeated a noise with the power of the former Conductor. Now they were going to help Neku and Joshua. Who were now busy battling against a former Composer.

XXX

Weiss sprang awake. How could he stay down? There was so much energy spinning around the city. All at the same time he could feel noise being fought. The sheer amount of negative energy in the air made him groan. He opened his eyes to get a blurry picture. A moment later the picture game into focus, "Kotori..."

The orange haired lady wasn't wearing her usual reaper getup. She was kneeling down in a frilly button down shirt and some navy blue dress pants. Guessing from what she wore, she just recently acquired them at a nearby clothing store. The expression on her face was judgmental and curious. "You vanished last time I saw you. That angel who took you away left me behind and took away Neku."

Weiss pushed himself up and told her, "I think Neku is in trouble. Some old Composer spoke to me in a dream. I don't know how he did it, but I think it was pretty real." Then he noticed something odd, Kotori wasn't surprised at all. That calculating glare of hers just observed.

"So he was a Composer? I just knew his name as Ryuho. We both had a similar dream. He said to help my son I'd have to find the Director's proxy. Do you know who that might be?" It seemed she was interrogating instead of asking. Officer level reapers were often smart and Kotori didn't deviate from that stereotype. "Tell me what you are. Now."

Well there was no reason to hide anything. In fact he might have told others his situation if he knew it from the start. "I'm the Director's proxy. A created human made by the Director and given a personality based loosely off the Director. Neku and I are very similar, we were both playing games for higher powers without our knowledge. Neku played for Joshua as I played for the Director. Shibuya was tested by our actions. If either of us were erased, the game would have ended. I'm back because I asked to help defend Shibuya..."

Kotori stood up and seemed to be satisfied with his answer, "You are different, but it's true your situation is different. The Director's feelings have been translated into human form have they not?"

"They have."

"Then that means that the Director must also want to defend Shibuya. If your actions are based on his desires."

Weiss guessed that was true. But at the same time Weiss was controlled by that angel for a time, why? The Director let that Agent guy control him... Apparently it was because of something Joshua did. It was a punishment to Joshua. The other thing that didn't make sense was why he had Kotori play that game? Well since Kotori was right there he might as well ask her what she knew.

"Why did Joshua make us play that game against you? What did he have to gain."

Kotori wasn't told directly, but she had a pretty good idea. "It was to keep Neku here. He must have expected you to win. The Composer is inhuman at predicting future events and he certainly didn't predict everything. But be it gamble or planning... you won the game and Neku is still here. People like to forget just how clever the Composer is. They also forget how cruel he is. He killed my son long ago without hesitation... with a smile on his face. Then again there are times he is gentle, like the time he spared Shibuya. In short, even the angels cannot possibly predict how or why he does as he does. Although there are times we're all unpredictable. You, for example, came to help Shiki in her time of need without thinking of the consequences. What does that say of your nature?"

Weiss thought about it. What did that say? "I suppose that would mean I wanted to save her."

Kotori corrected him with a smile, "You did not know her identity, you did not calculate the consequences. You did not want anyone to be erased. That is your nature."

Weiss thought back to the first week, "I started off chuckling when I saw players erased."

Kotori raised an eyebrow, "I wonder what changed you. It wasn't just Nanami was it?"

Weiss didn't really know, "I made a pact with Nanami so her emotions may have had some effect. It was also everything I went through. Wait- Why are we talking about this?!" This wasn't important at all and not even a tiny bit important. Why were they discussing this at all? They needed to help Joshua and Neku, right? "We need to get to Neku. He's in trouble."

Kotori motioned over to a barrier, "That barrier there is no ordinary one. It will allow us to pass only after we've defeated a powerful noise. This particular noise is an Echo. It hasn't revealed itself just yet. Also there's one other person here, you wouldn't know her." Then the woman turned her attention to sleeping girl. It was a tan skinned girl who Neku met long ago. More of a side character, but definitely left an impression.

Nao was brought back to life. At this point she was asleep, but who could say if she'd be awake in a few seconds. Actually it was one second, she woke up immediately after attention was drawn to her. "Like... where am I?" The first thing you'd notice about Nao other than her sandy hair and tan skin was that she always ended her words with a question. "And... you two are staring at me?"

Quite an unusual girl she was. Weiss definitely never saw her before. "We're pacted into groups of three? So all three of us fight whatever noise comes our way. That should make things a little easier."

Nao seemed to grasp the situation, "I've been brought back to life? Like, how cool?"

Kotori didn't really like the way she talked. But there wasn't really any time to let anyone know that. A powerful noise was heading there way. Actually the power in the thing was massive. She'd seen the power of a Conductor and this was beyond even that. "We're looking at a noise that could be massive. It's power is enough for anyone to be able to detect."

Weiss agreed, "Yeah, we're up against something that might be a former Conductor. Stay alert I'm not sure how strong it is. I can't quite grasp if it's really stronger than a Conductor. There's three of us so that should improve our odds."

An implacable familiar voice spoke. It was solemn and sounded like a gruff man. "And how would that improve your odds? Three? I had thought one of you might share power with the Director. It seems Cacophony was mistaken. None of you are any threat." A giant Chinese dragon noise appeared. It was colored gold and black. Definitely not a noise that had been seen before. "I am the Dragon of the East. I have come to erase you."

Weiss took a look at Kotori to see if she might know who this guy was. No such luck. Whoever this guy was a complete stranger. They knew nothing about him. Dragon of the East? What kind of name was that? Was this just a Noise? Did he even have a reaper form? Previous Echoes would show up as a Noise only if they were being beaten down enough. This thing showed up as a Noise form? "Should we know who you are?" Weiss didn't know whether to bother attacking it or not. It had no obvious weak points. This might have been able to beat, but it'd be a long shot. Maybe if Joshua or Neku were there it'd make things easier. Weiss and Kotori were pretty strong, but this thing was definitely a tier above them.

Kotori made a guess, "Were you a Conductor? Or are you just a monstrously powerful Noise? I've never seen a Conductor with as much power as you."

The Dragon of the East seemed surprised, "You think me a Conductor? No child, I am not. If my name is not known to you that is for the best. Cacophony is not able to face you directly. So much like the Director he has prepared proxy to fittingly represent his worthy cause. You are not our enemy little one. If you would but yield, then this battle will end with a mere exchange of words. It is even within my authority to grant you safe passage through the destruction. You will come to no harm from the Noise if you give up here."

Nao was the first one to speak and of course she made a lot of statements questioning. This was the first of many. "You're crazy?

Kotori agreed in her own way, "It wouldn't be possible for anyone to live with themselves if they just gave up. You'd be a coward and nothing less. You'd be letting countless be slaughtered."

The Dragon of the East countered, "Would not bravery be making the harder choice? Standing up to me is not brave. It is merely a foolish path that results in your own destruction and ultimately saves no one. Do you not see? Conflict is what is tearing this place apart. It is Shibuya's inability to stand down that leads to their destruction. If they would but accept the Clash and felt the embrace of the Noise... then and all would be spared. There would be no destruction, the only ones who seek destruction are the angels. Where are they now? Your precious angels? Could they not come to your aid? Yet they do not? Did not an angel seek this destruction? Does not the Director destroy all? Humanity and Noise are not so different. We are born from humanity, you are creators are you not? Why would we end all life?... When indeed our very nature is to thrive off of your own desires. We are not your enemies. You may not think of us as friends, but the world is not truly so black and white. There are many beaten paths you may cross. You think in absolutes? How absurd. Reality is complex as are humans. We may not be your friends, but this certainly does not make us your enemies. It is the Angels who lie and scheme. The Director schemes. He is a bully who forced you into this. You need not be a part of it, you need not die for a needless cause."

That sounded like something the Noise might say. Someone might have considered it. The Dragon of the East had a very flowery manner of speech and he was pitting the blame on the Angels instead of who really needed to be blamed. The world wasn't always so black and white as he said. But at the same time one must beg to question if what the Noise said was true. The were indeed dangerous and although they often didn't take away human life. They were monsters. They lived off of negative energy and humanity couldn't live in that kind of filth. If Shibuya really gave in to the noise everything would fall apart. Then after Shibuya fell other places on Earth would be next. What other high population city would they target next? They were locusts or parasites. They more the fed the more noise it made until there'd be a worldwide epidemic. "I do share a bond with the Director and although I have no way of knowing his reasons. It's because he has no choice but to erase you. You may be created by humanity, but you're definitely not helping us. The only thing you want to do is bring ruin wherever you go. The negative emotion WILL cause people to die. Thousands would die if you were allowed to exist. You've purposely engrained yourself so into the culture of this place. You've become a cancer. If you weren't destroyed here you'd spread across the rest of the world. You're a cancer so thick that the only way to destroy all of you would be to destroy Shibuya as well. This is the first time in human history that anyone has chosen to fight the Noise. We will fight you."

Nao happily cocked her head and gave that big dragon a piece of her mind. "Like he's my hero? You can't just offer us a chance to save ourselves when a lot of people are counting on us?" Again she managed to somehow make that statement a question.

Kotori agreed too, "You're just muddying the waters. The truth is this: Noise are evil. No matter how you may mask it. No matter how you may put a spin on it, the Noise are against humanity. The Noise are the reason this game happened in the first place. The reason you held back until now was because of the Composer and the Angels. They may not be our friends, but you certainly are our enemy."

The Dragon of the East seemed to know as well as they there would be no bargains. They were standing in the way of progress. They were human enough. They made no compromise or effort to understand his point of view. "So you have come so far in life and yet you are still sheep. You are helpless fools and have no hope of victory. Has it occurred to you that victory is unobtainable? Still you fight? Senseless conflict, I hate senseless conflict. I hate people who will not simply accept death. Why does your kind exist? They run away from death and they run away from responsibility. If you will not see reason in words then you shall accept the truth by force! Defend yourselves!"

Who were they fighting? Something was odd. The Dragon of the East didn't have a human form like the others? Why? He was a Conductor? Something was odd about this one, but there was absolutely no time to think things through. The beast attacked them without second thought. It spat out golden fire. It wasn't energy, it was actual fire. Which had a rather unusual effect. The fire spat out was unnatural. Everything it touched burned the same as if it were fuel. It wasn't that it was spitting out a flammable substance either. The golden fire set every object it touched on fire and then spread. "Careful, this monster has enough raw power to end any one of us. Avoid his attacks at all cost." Kotori said dodging without her white wings. Something felt different about her.

Weiss had to ask before things got too crazy, "You can call out your reaper wings, right?"

Kotori shot him a glare, "I'm not a reaper anymore. I lost my wings the moment my price was returned. I'm a player the same as any one of you. The other reapers still have their noise form, but I don't." From what it seemed, her powers weren't diminished. She was still very fast and from what it looked like her psych wasn't too much different. Instead of bolts of energy she shot fast moving angel feathers that exploded on contact. Instead of summoning noise, she had a lot of healing and shielding abilities. "White Aegis" It was a simple protection ability that placed powerful shields on her allies. Although the shield might do little good against this thing.

Nao had her own psych, it was a red and black skull pin. It was the one given to her by Mokoto in the first week. Neku at some point or another was forced to use it. But the effect of the pin differed greatly for Nao. For Neku it gave him no psych and made him move slower when he used it. For Nao it was a completely different effect. Then again she saw the pin differently. It was the pin she got with Sota. It meant more to her. A lot more. How much something meant to you could effect everything. It gave her enhanced speed and a basic ranged attack.

Nao was going to put that pin to use. She was rushing around the area easily dodging the flames and using that red pin to shoot red bolts at the dragon. She might have been excellent at avoiding attacks, but her hitting power was weak. Even if she wasn't hitting an Echo her attacks had little effect. "Like I'm not hurting it?"

Weiss gave it a shot himself. He used a few rush abilities to skid around the fire and tried hitting the monster. He let loose a number of shockwave pins, which always did some damage to the enemy before now, but on this Noise it had no effect. Then he sent down a much stronger attack. A well placed holy pillar that hit the Echo dead on. Normally being hit by one of those hurt a lot. Again the Dragon was unphased. It spewed more fire in his general direction as it was hit by angel feathers sent by Kotori. There wasn't absolutely no result. The hovering Chinese Dragon of the East took all the hits and remained unchanged. "None of us are hurting it. What is that thing?"

Kotori was suspicious, "I have no idea, I've never encountered anything that took hits this well. Even if we had bigger attacks I doubt they'd have any effect. There's some trick to this." There had to be some way of beating that thing. It was stronger than a Conductor by a longshot. What was it?

The Dragon of the East merely remarked, "I'll remind you this. You are all locked within the barrier until you can defeat me. Also my fire will spread regardless of what it touches. Every stone, every scrap of metal and every thing that physically stand will spread the fire. Since you are locked within a barrier, eventually the flames will spread until there is no existing place to stand. I need make no effort to dodge your attacks, you cannot harm me. There is no power that you possess that can outstrip my own. Give up and end this senseless conflict."

That Noise was angry. You could hear the irritation in his voice. He genuinely wondered why they wouldn't give up. They knew how powerful he was so it was pointless. Weiss felt something off though. It had a lot of power it wasn't using. It wasn't dodging their attacks at all. It wasn't even trying to erase them. It was trying to make them give up. Any other Echo would just simply erase them quickly enough. Although from he could sense, they might have been up against the most powerful Echo. He could sense Kitaniji and even another Conductor. But this thing was above them. This Dragon of the East had more raw power than... than... "You're a Composer."

The Dragon of the East found that comment amusing, "A curious child? I shall indulge. I indeed was a Composer. You can see my power can you not? My offer still stands if you give up. I shall let you live. There is no need to fight any further. You must see that my flames will eventually spread. I used this ability long ago to slaughter countless noise and restless souls. I am the Dragon of the East. A former Composer of Shibuya."

Kotori caught it too. If he was a Composer then who was he? There weren't many Composers of Shibuya. If this was a Composer's negative energy then. There was no point in stopping it. Kotori put more force into her attacks and sent more exploding feathers his way. He didn't bother to dodge at all. He let them all hit him all the same. He then spewed more fire in her direction. It traveled much farther than real flames could. It kept burning no matter how far it went. "This is... you're angry about conflict? You were disgusted how everything turned violent. Why did everyone fight against you?"

Weiss realized who it was, "You're Ryuho. You're Shibuya's first Composer. The Noise took your form and is using your negative emotions to influence you." That dream he had with Ryuho in it, that was him. That's how Ryuho came to them in a dream, because the Noise brought him back as an Echo. But this wasn't the usual Echo. It was so immensely powerful, yet it wasn't using most of it. The Noise may be controlling him, but even they couldn't make a Composer do as they pleased. He was being influenced by Noise, but they definitely weren't really controlling him. "Ryuho! You're helping them?!"

Nao was curious as she dodged more of that golden fire, but it was hard to find places to run. "Like... you know him?" She tried shooting bolts at it, but as usual they didn't work.

The Dragon of the East was Ryuho, "Helping them? They cannot control me. They may recreate my power, but if they bring back someone as strong as a Composer they cannot fully predict what we will do. The Conductor you know as Kitaniji gives them difficulty to control. The Conductor known as Ichigo is acting to gain revenge. The more power they revive, the less they control. My negative emotions are strong. I am outraged even still by this desire for conflict. I will always be outraged!" The Echo let out a roar and the flames spread even faster. The golden flames kept spreading all the way up to the top of buildings. Flames flooded the streets. There was almost nowhere left to stand. "You will give in or be erased."

Then Weiss said something surprising. "The barrier will not go away until you are erased, correct? In that case I give up. All three of us give up. We'll stop fighting you."

Nao was surprised, "But like! We can't give up! We'd be erased?" At least one of those didn't sound like a question.

Kotori stopped not sure what gambit Weiss was playing at, but she had little choice. "I give up as well. I'll stop fighting you."

The flames did not vanish, they merely stopped moving. The golden fire in the area stopped spreading. "You give up? Explain your reasons."

Weiss didn't mind explaining at all, "We shouldn't fight because we want to. We should fight when it's the best choice we can make. Right now it isn't best for us to fight. So we shouldn't."

The Dragon roared and flames shot up in the air high enough to reach the sky. "You lie! Players are violent! All of them! They should all be erased! Shibuya has changed, it should be purged of this senseless conflict! You players are no different! You do not seek peace! Not as I do!"

Weiss looked at Nao expectantly. Nao rolled her eyes, "I give up too?"

Weiss then continued the rest of it, "Composer Ryuho. If we promise you to put an end to this conflict, will you let us pass? Will you stand down?"

Ryuho's flames went up a little more the Noise seemed to be the one arguing with them, "No! You are bloodthirsty in nature! You long for combat! You long for senseless conflict."

Weiss seemed to be getting through to Ryuho, "As Composer you're charged with the protection of your city. Your negative emotions are what make up this Noise. You spoke to me of fallen men in battle who could not accept death. What of you? You threaten Shibuya's well being with your past hatreds. As Composer you know what you must do. You cannot be controlled by Noise, that means you decide what happens next. Choose."

The Dragon of the East was silent. Then shifted into his human form. It was a kimono wearing old man with long hair. "Echoes are strong. But the reason they exist is because they take the worst parts of someone... and make them into a noise. If the negative emotions were to vanish... what then would happen to the noise?" Ryuho smirked as the flames in the area died down. He seemed to be happy, very happy. He was weeping tears of joy, "I have found my peace. You three must find yours. As Composer I am charged with the protection of Shibuya. I will not allow myself to hinder it further. I cleanse myself of this hatred, what then becomes of the noise?"

The noise started fading. Kotori understood what happened, "When you found peace... the Echo no longer exists. The noise within you weaken. When they weaken..."

Ryuho told them flatly, "This was not a battle that you could win by fighting. This is a battle that could be won by peace. I ask this of you, keep your bargain and bring Shibuya peace."

Weiss kind of liked this guy. "Yeah, I'll do what I can."

Then Ryuho needed to hear no more. Out of him a Noise dragon appeared. The monster was afraid, "What are you doing?! They are not your ally! You belong to us!"

The Composer wasn't amused. "I belong to Shibuya. I will defend it even in death. Be erased with me." Ryuho pointed a finger and sent golden fire at the noise dragon.

The Noise was burning and yelping crying out things like, "Conflict!" "Hatred!" "No peace!"

Ryuho was fading, as the noise died so did he. "Go now, there you must aid your friends. Keep your promise and let Shibuya find peace." The old man started to vanish and sent one final stream of fire at the noise utterly destroying it. When it was destroyed so too was Ryuho. He was burning in golden flames much the same way. He didn't fall to the ground he didn't flinch. He accepted the flames and just faded away. There was nothing left of him or the noise that brought him to the world.

Barriers around them vanished and not one of them suffered major casualties. They weren't wounded or tired. They needed to help Neku. They were going to get there first. There was no exchange of words only a silent agreement to move forward. There was one more opponent for them to face.

XXX

"Blade Dance: Cherry." Ichigo may have been Conductor once, but Kariya really improved. So far she had cut him a total of 96 times. Her Blade Dance had several styles to it. Cherry made every cut she made double in length. Even a fairly small cut got bigger proportionally. Kariya wasn't enjoying that much at all. But he didn't have to enjoy it, he just had to hold his own until his backup arrived. He took a minor scratch which turned into a less minor scratch. He shot bolts at the little pink haired brat, but she didn't become Conductor by sorting flowers. She got there by her stupid speed and that damned scythe of hers. It cut through way too many things to be considered fair. What was worse was that most reapers or players didn't have any sort of real weapon... she did.

"Cute name. You must be good at naming your pets." Kariya hopped off a building and sent a rather large blast her way. "I never really named any of my techniques. The only things that need names are things that are alive." He kept up his assault and did little more than limit where she could go. Controlling where your opponent moves is crucial for sneak attacks.

Shooter showed up right on time with an attack of his own, "Tin pin... ROCKET!" From the back of his Tin Pin launcher shot out actual flames. Which fired onto his arms and into his face. Honestly there couldn't have been an attack any more stupid. You couldn't see at all and the flames probably hurt him. But as it turned out the stupid attack actually hit Ichigo. The moment the Tin Pin launcher connected to her back she felt paralyzed by the force. Oh but it didn't stop there. After the attack hit her all the force came firing out of her stomach. There was no blood, but there was static to let you know the attack must have wounded her.

Ichigo was pissed and her fixated eyes let Shooter know it. "Blade Dance: Sakura." She said the attack name softly as if making a point not to yell. A storm of Sakura petals and blade licks were visible in the air. There was no way to count how many slashes in the air she did. But every slash sent a curved blade flying straight towards her opponents. Unfortunately for Shooter, he got hit with a lot of them. The moment she finished she huffed and assessed the situation. "You're all three still alive... I'll use my noise form. You have earned my respect, player. But I'm surprised. Kariya you're still holding I'd know... I've seen your true face. Have you been scared to show it?"

Kariya got between Ichigo and Nanami. "Look, I don't want to sound cliché or anything... but... I really would rather be erased then be remembered using my noise form. It's not worth killing these two."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Is that what concerns you? Perhaps I should rid you of that concern. These children were supposed to die first anyway. You know my noise form and you know my methods. There's nothing you can do once the reaper following the horse comes."

Kariya rolled his eyes, "Is that a reference to Revelation? Because I really never read the Bible. And making references to it really lame. Starts arguments."

Ichigo bent over on one knee and closed her eyes. Her reaper wings folded around her as she very quickly shifted into the shape of a Noise horse. The horse was mostly black or gray, but had pink flames instead of a mane. The horse didn't look dangerous at all, but Kariya gulped at the sight of it. "Death comes." The horse said. This was Equus Cantis.

If you thought Ichigo moved fast, the horse actually started could trot faster than Ichigo could move. Shooter couldn't point his launcher at that monster, "Too fast."

Kariya still stood between the horse and Nanami. He had a look of contemplation for a moment then sighed, "I guess it can't be helped. I lose." His stance didn't relax, but his face did. He found some sort of calm with the idea of dying.

Nanami got up and told him, "We haven't lost yet." Then she tried using her book, only to have it fail. That horse built up enough speed then charged them. It rushed into Kariya, but it ran through him as if he didn't exist or it didn't exist. As it phased through him two cuts appeared on his chest. That horse cut you if it ran into you? Definitely looked that way.

Nanami tried her psych again, it failed. Then she tried it again it was pointless. Ichigo cut her book. Then right after Kariya the horse ran through Shooter. He too was cut in the chest as it passed. It seemed instantaneous; it wasn't. The moment the horse was close Ichigo appeared for a fraction of a second to slash. She used her noise form for even more speed. Attacks seemed pretty useless against her. She moved too fast to be hit by anything. Her psych didn't work at all, so what? She ran between the horse and Kariya. "Get up." Nanami said ready to take the next blow.

Kariya didn't get it, "You don't got anything that can stop that attack."

Nanami gave him a fierce look, "So what?!"

Kariya paused a moment and chuckled, "Yeah... but... I don't think a lady should ever take a blade for a man. Who could ever call me a gentleman if I let you take the attack? Scoot over." Then he got in the way of Nanami who then got in his way. They actually started started tripping each other or shoving the other person over.

Ichigo actually just sat there watching a moment, "It's good to see that you're willing to die for one another. I'll be sure to have you buried together." The horse charged them and as it charged it seemed time stood still. Nanami tried her psych again forgetting it was broken. It wasn't broken, she just broke the cover. Nanami thought of Shiki and how Mr. Mew could shift or change. If Shiki did it then there was a chance it's possible for others.

Nanami held up a hand as her book pages shot out from the book creating a paper wall between them and the horse. The paper from her notebook was floating around her and Kariya. The paper fluttered making what aught to be a flimsy wall an impervious shield. Nanami put a lot of energy into the paper and it stopped the horse from charging. When the horse stopped it was vulnerable. If you block a fast moving target it can't move. Kariya didn't hesitate he launched one of those big blasts of his at Ichigo and it hit her dead on. The horse shifted back to Ichigo and there was a stunned look on her face. Was she done? No.

"You manage yourself well. Blade Dance: Sakura!" This time she actually yelled the attack and Nanami was way too close to the dozens of slashes near Ichigo. It was one thing to dodge the attack at a distance and avoid the wind blades that came from it. But was quite another to stop all the melee swings at near point blank range. Each one of the strikes was aimed directly at Nanami. The poor thing tried to keep back all the blade strikes from cutting her or Kariya. But there was no way to block all of them. She dived to the side and tried using her psych to attack. Her psych could be used to attack. Each one of the pages were linked. If you drew on one, then all of them could use the ink scratch mark. With Nanami each ink scratch could be used as an attack. So she sent sever pen lashes right into Ichigo while she couldn't move.

Nanami managed to hit Ichigo, but Ichigo paid her back in full. A good number of the cuts hit Nanami and at the end of Ichigo's combo Nanami was barely able to stand. Ichigo grabbed her by the face and slung her in the direction of a light pole. Nanami's back hit the light pole and the metal bent as the impact was made. The way it bent kept her dangling up there completely unconscious. Nanami was totally out of the fight now.

That's when Ichigo took advantage of the situation further. She changed into that horse form of hers and ran through Shooter. As the horse went through there was a rather large cut on his neck. "As I said. He shall be decapitated and she shall be hung from the light pole. I do remember I also said I'd cut you one thousand times, yes?" She smirked and shifted back to that horse form of hers again. "Don't worry I'll leave you alive long enough to see them die." She walked over to Kariya crossing her legs with every step. That bitch was strutting around like she had won. Well it's almost as if she had... almost.

Kariya looked up at both of them, "So can either of them see me?"

Ichigo answered with a curious tone, "No, I imagine they can't. Even for players they can't stay conscious through something like that. Why are you asking?" She readied her scythe and didn't stop to hear him answer.

At that moment Kariya's face stiffened. His neck pulsed and his wings flared. Ichigo's eyes widened as she made her way over to attack Kariya. She was too late, he was shifting into his noise form. Shit... Why now? Ichigo thought he'd rather be erased than use it again. "You're using it?"

Kariya spoke while he could, "I lose control of myself using this noise form. Also you've already seen me using this so I don't really mind you seeing it. Pretty much anyone who's seen it already died." He changed from a human to some form of giant rodent. The beast was orange and had a feral look to it. Perhaps one of the reasons he wanted no one to see it was because during the time he was in his noise form he was completely out of control. Kariya became what was known as Mus Canits. The beast let out a screech and wildly thrashed around as if angered by the fact it existed.

Ichigo squinted and didn't have many options. Despite her attacks being just as fierce as usual her stamina was low. She had taken some pretty heavy hits, but this thing might finish her if she wasn't careful. She jumped back before the rat came crashing down to attack her. "You were wise not to use this. If you're a noise long our master will take control of you. You seem calm enough, but you've plenty of negative emotion for us to use."

She didn't get to speak long, Mus Cantis came rushing at her slashing and biting. Ichigo was having trouble blocking, but that's all she had to do block. For the moment there was an opening she'd take advantage. If it were Kariya he'd have control, but there was no control here. Where she was fast he was strong. It was difficult to remember that this was still a game master. He could fight with a Conductor at times. This was one of those times.

In an instant the singing rat jumped back and thrashed around uselessly. He was attacking everything he saw from brick walls to cars. Ichigo smirked, he wasn't even focusing on her. He was just attacking anything and everything. "I see even more why he doesn't use this. He would attack his allies too. Yes, in some ways he's weaker." She readied her weapon and transformed into her Equus Cantis. The horse noise was ready, after a kick of a front hoof it neighed. She charged straight towards the stupid rat. This was going to finish it. Perfect, she attacked right when it wanted her to. The rat changed its attention to her immediately and let out a screech. The screech was more or less a sonic boom that blew everything from rubble to glass away from the rat. The blast was strong enough to even slow down the charging horse. The rat then pounced the smaller horse and tore into the horse. It was a savage and gruesome sight you only see animals actually do. It was a painful to hear, especially for Ichigo.

The cuts and tears went into the horse and the rat bit into the horse's neck. Mus Cantis was definitely not Kariya. It didn't hold back, it didn't make jokes and it didn't know mercy. It simply wanted to devour and destroy. It devoured and it destroyed. The horse had no guts, but if it did the rat would be digging into them. It's fangs were cutting into the horse's insides. The horse let out a cry just as it started glowing. After an explosion there was static and fading light. The horse was dead and gone. Left behind was a huffing Ichigo. Who unlike the other noise, left no words of wisdom nor gave any sign of respect.

"I'll come back to haunt you. I will climb through whatever hell holds me. I will end you and all that you love. This I swear." Ichigo fell over in defeat. In defeat the Reaper started to dissipate as if becoming nothing more than water vapor. Wisps of negative energy cleared the area and Kariya changed back to his human form. The rat vanished almost as quickly as it came. Kariya's eyes were unfocused and tired. His expression was careless and exhausted.

"When you haunt me, be sure to wear pink." He of course got the last word before he fell to his knees and on his stomach. His noise form never lasted more than a minute. Being a noise didn't suit him at all. His noise form didn't match himself at all. Mus Cantis was going to remain hidden for the rest of his life. Well, if what Kariya did could be called living. For now he slept and with a little luck he might even have a dream. Their battle was over. All three of his team were beaten into unconsciousness. There were other battles to fight, but they were done. Who could blame them? They fought as hard as they could and barely beat Ichigo. "Sorry Uzuki... I'm clocking out." He managed to say before everything went black.

XXX

It took a while to get there, but they were there. Weiss and Kotori actually didn't run faster than Nao. She was ahead of both of them, but it might have had something to do with her pin psych. "Like you healing power is amazing?" Nao complimented as they ran.

Kotori might as well inform her, "My healing abilities are based mostly off my noise form. I change into a bunny, but it's no good for attacking. My healing abilities are second to none."

Weiss was a little surprised, "Let me guess it's not really a combat thing."

Kotori nodded, "No. Not at all. However it does have it's uses. No amount of healing is a replacement for rest, but I thought we should ready ourselves for whatever comes next."

Weiss didn't really know when the day was going to end, but it wasn't going to last much longer. The noise battles around them were coming to an end. "Despite Neku and Joshua being the strongest of us. I haven't sensed them at all. When the barrier came down I should have been able to pinpoint them." The problem was there wasn't really a good way to sense either of them. But their opponent was easy enough to find. Hell it didn't even feel like he was fighting at all and it might as well have been a beacon. You couldn't really worry too much about Josh or Neku. One or both of them was the Composer and if a Noise could actually beat them... well no hope for the rest of them. The thought didn't really cross anyone's mind that Neku or Joshua could actually lose. Even though all the signs and warnings pointed to it.

"Did Neku and Joshua win already?" Nao asked. Well there wasn't anything that could beat them. There was this feeling, though. There was this chill that said something was wrong. That chill made Weiss move faster. There was something ahead. If not energy it was raw bloodlust. Something was wrong, he was warned earlier in that Dream. He needed to help Neku and Joshua. But how much help did they need?

His attention was diverted by a scream from Nao. He turned ready to attack whatever made her scream, but it wasn't something that could be attacked. Poor Nao saw her boyfriend, beaten half to death. He was crushed into the street's walkway. He was alive, sure. But he was brutally beaten. Well not even beaten. It was like he was casually cast aside and whatever opponent fought him had no time to bother with a smallfry like him. Nao ran to Sota. She started whimpering. Seeing her boyfriend like that scared her, caused primal terror even. It took Weiss holding her back to let Kotori get close enough to try healing him. Nao didn't really say anything, but then she didn't have to. Anyone would understand she was having difficulty not having any sort of panic attack. Weiss couldn't panic, he had to face facts. The signs were he was punched, a couple of times. Sota had his face smashed through the wall. Even in the Underground that was liable to kill you.

Kotori leaned over and healed the Sota. She kept her hands on his forehead while she worked. "He'll survive. Even if I heal him now, there's no chance he'll wake up right now. Even so... I think he'll be alright." Her attention went to Weiss. "Should we move forward?"

Weiss didn't really know if they should just leave Nao's boyfriend just laying in the ground. "Nao, can you stay behind and keep him safe?" It was partly to keep Sota safe, but it doubled as a comfort for Nao. What was worse, whatever did this to Sota, was probably battling Neku and Joshua.

The girl knelt down and felt her boyfriend for a moment. Then nodded, "I'll stay... thank you." That sounded like an invitation to leave. "And hurry." Definitely an invitation to leave.

Hurrying was a good idea. Although Sota was something of a stranger, it was still shaking to see someone in that state. If a Noise did that to him, then the Noise would have erased him too. But from the looks of it he did that to Sota and left. Sota was worth taking the time to nearly kill, but not kill? What kind of logic was that? Noise were ultimately monsters, but they wouldn't do something that inefficient. They'd have killed Sota or finished him off so he couldn't fight other Noise.

Weiss and Kotori started to head off. They were getting closer to the source of power they were looking for. It was definitely not human. If this was an Echo, then they must not have had a power limit. They were approaching something of the magnitude of Composer. From a distance they could feel lunacy and bloodlust that didn't belong to Composers. When Weiss ran into the dream version of Ryuho, he was calm and collected. Joshua while being smug was also calm and very calculating. Both Composers Weiss had seen were more or less the same type of soul. This was different. This was a Composer, but this was one that was insane. His power was something that came from irrational emotions like rage and spite. It was sickening to look at, but very powerful. Weiss was understandably worried. Neku and Joshua were fighting a Composer? No, they weren't fighting him. The fight was already over. They had to hurry.

Kotori squinted ahead when she saw a small glimpse of their target, "Who is that?"

Weiss didn't see Neku or Joshua at the moment, but they had been here in the last couple of minutes for sure. They got closer to their target and the closer they got the better they could see a figure. Just standing there waiting for whoever came next, "I hope that you are not friends of Joshua." The voice was calm besides the aura of rage.

His smile was gritted and his hair was long and jagged. On his fingers were a total of seven rings. He was built like a linebacker and his white striped fur coat could have been tiger fur. In that mess of hair of his was a silver crown and his eyes were golden. It wouldn't be a stretch to think he fancied himself royalty. "Yes, I can tell that you are. You smell of him" Hirashi the god-slayer spoke.

Weiss asked first, "Where's Neku?"

Hirashi looked up thoughtfully, "Oh you want him?"

A body was thrown in their direction. Much like Sota, Neku was beaten to a pulp. Although he wasn't unconscious, just barely hanging on. Neku wasn't even going to talk. Kotori caught him just before he hit the floor. He grunted, his pride hurt just as much as his body. Neku lost? Impossible.

Hirashi realized what she meant, "Oh I see! You are more of the champions sent by the angels. Are you still clinging to the philosophy that Shibuya needs to be saved?"

Kotori couldn't see or sense Joshua. "You fought them but you didn't kill them? The Noise wants all of us to either give up or be erased. Who are you and what did you do to them?"

Hirashi cocked his head and crossed his arms. Apparently she didn't know who he was, "I suppose a young reaper wouldn't know who I am. No matter, I can educate you another time. You may take Neku with you, but I will keep this one." Out of the rubble he pulled out Joshua, who was worse off than Neku. "This prize is mine. I have yet business with him." Joshua wasn't even conscious. He was out cold.

Hirashi was definitely and Echo. He was brought back by the Noise. His power was on par with Joshua's back when he was Composer. But right now neither Neku or Joshua seemed to be able to match him. In terms of raw Soul, he could erase everything. "If I hadn't sensed you coming or been so impressed by his spunk, I'd have erased him. Siding with Joshua is a serious crime. I intend to make an example of him. I will show you what happens to traitors."

Kotori scanned the area and felt others coming. If this guy didn't intend to fight then that was good. Beat and Shiki were coming. Although considering the situation, they had little chance of winning. They were up against a Composer. A former Composer, but his power was unchanged. It was maddening to think that the Noise could revive this lunatic. "

Hirashi kept that gritted smile on. "Well... I never really cared what happened to Joshua's companions. They too must learn the order of things. They must know who reigns supreme." Hirashi hit Joshua in the shirt which must have really hurt. But Joshua wasn't awake to feel it. "Useless... harming him now has no effect. How disappointing."

This was an usual situation. Was he even going to try to fight them? This guy was nuts. Kotori looked at Neku and asked, "Are you alright?"

Neku was still awake, but he was drained and wounded. There wasn't energy left in him at all. "I'll live. Get out of here." Neku tried to stand, but he was struggling to do so. Before Kotori came to help him up, he nudged her away. "Get away from this bastard. You shouldn't have come here. Give him a minute and he'll start hurting you too." Neku wasn't about to let anyone of blood relation get hurt. He couldn't risk Shiki or Beat coming to his rescue. They needed to get out of there and regroup. This guy wasn't going down unless they had an army.

Hirashi laughed at the fact Neku started standing. He laughed at a chuckle then really let himself go on laughing until he ran out of breath. "If only there were more players like you. Fighting with their full strength, unleashing all of their potential. Joshua chose you as a proxy? That's the first thing that child and I agreed upon. Tell me, what did he promise you for fighting against me? I should like to have you fight for me and my court." Hirashi had a seat on a pile of rubble like it was a throne.

Neku kept standing, "I'm not fighting for him, I'm fighting for Shibuya."

Hirashi laughed again and shook his head. Every time he laughed it bothered every person who heard it. It was loud and obnoxious. "So you're no different than those other traitors? Joshua gathered a number of reapers and players long ago. To overthrow me. Even the angels helped him, it gives me great joy to know that Shibuya has not changed. Even now I understand what Shibuya really wants. It wants to be destroyed. The ultimate salvation is erasure. I aim to rid this pathetic little place of all life. Joshua tried stopping it, but what did he accomplish? He can't defeat human desire. We all want to be destroyed deep down. We all seek solace in the end. I merely grant wishes, as Composer I will preform my duty and send you to whatever god you wish. I am the Composer of Shibuya."

Weiss went ahead and said it, "You're insane. You're not Composer of anything."

"Am I not? Who would be Composer if not me?"

Neku answered, "You're not in charge here, the Noise are. They brought you back and they control you. You proved that by fighting us."

Hirashi gave that some thought, "No... I do not believe the Noise are or could attempt controlling me. I just happened to be the most powerful thing that could be resurrected. They can only bring back the negative emotion of those who have died here in Shibuya. But I ask you this. If the Noise were truly in control would I not have erased your champion there? Wouldn't I have killed Joshua? I have not, because I want you to know that I am in control. The Noise do not command me. Even if they fancy me a champion for their cause."

That's when Weiss noticed. Kotori wasn't just holding Neku. She was HEALING him and pretty damn fast too. They had to keep stalling. With Neku healed and the other players they might have a chance. It'd take every player and Reaper they have. Weiss kept talking and letting Neku get healed. He still had a ways to go, "So you don't intend to kill Joshua? Or us? What are we to you, subjects?"

Hirashi was too proud to notice Neku's improving condition. Or really acknowledge him as a threat, "I intend to kill all of you. Just not here, not today. I will bring ruin to all of you on my own terms. Although I have been entertaining the idea of ending Joshua now. I wish him more pain, but it would be logical would it not? His death should erase any hope you formerly had."

Hirashi's hand fit around Joshua's head and he started crushing it. They should have stopped him, but they needed more time. Neku didn't move, Kotori didn't move and Weiss might have done something if not for Hirashi deciding to stop. "No! I want you to have hope! I want you to think you have a chance of winning! Yes! I want him to feel more pain!" He loosened his grip on Joshua. Then the Noise seal on his face glowed. The lunatic couldn't make up his mind. "But I want to kill him! I should kill him! He shall die as a pitiful traitor!" The Noise seal on his face faded, "No! I should savor this moment! Keep him alive so that I may cause pain later!"

Just a little more time. That's all it'd take. But this guy was unstable. He'd kill Joshua and them if they waited long enough. His grip on reality was slipping, but if they started fighting him too soon they may have ended up like everyone else who fought him. Beaten just barely to death. Hirashi didn't even seem to know how to be careful. Neku was clever, he stalled just a bit more. "How are you going to rule a city that's going to be destroyed? If you're in control of yourself you'd be living in an empty Shibuya."

Neku wanted to get him to talk for just a bit longer. He was getting healed enough to think about giving it another go. Kotori's healing couldn't replace rest, but Neku was looking a lot better. Hirashi even noticed what was going on or he must have. It took a while for him to decide to answer, "Don't you see? Shibuya embraces destruction it has always yearned for destruction. It cries out to die so that it's pain my finally end. It is humans who make Noise, it is only fitting that we reach salvation through creation. Our salvation is our end, however that end may come. Shall I save you?"

Weiss had to comment, "Are you asking if we want to be erased? We don't and neither does Shibuya."

Neku stood tall, the healing complete, "Shibuya isn't dead you crazy bastard. Shibuya is alive and struggling to survive. You're not the Composer and if you were so great of a Composer how did Joshua kill you."

Hirashi raised his hand. That's when his face twisted into anger. It was the tempered kind of anger, the kind of anger that boils on the inside until it makes the owner insane. "He killed me... because he gathered the traitors, he used his lying tongue to twist my Reapers against me. They were all traitors. They were traitors..." One hand went to his face. The words repeated, "Traitors... Traitors, traitors. Traitors! You're all traitors!" That set him off.

Neku zipped to the side, but Hirashi revealed his psych. It wasn't a bolt or energy blast, he just made an explosion. The air around Neku just exploded. Then he flicked his hand at Kotori. He had a closed fist that opened to a palm. Another explosion, right against her. Then Weiss tried to counter by sending energy bolts in his direction. Surely a volley of bolts would prevent Hirashi from making an explosion right where he was standing. It didn't stop it at all. The explosion hit Weiss and it hurt. That's when Weiss realized their opponent's power. If he pointed his hand at you he could make an explosion wherever it was pointing. It was nearly impossible to dodge. The size of the explosion and the instantaneous blast made him a formidable opponent.

Hirashi was a Composer and he was sickenly strong. The only thing that could beat him is another Composer. Weiss took the hit and used his dash ability to get close to Hirashi and drop a pillar of light on him. "Neku! Tell me you're still Composer!"

Kotori had her white wings out and wasn't just going to sit around while someone tried to murder her child. "He isn't! Neither is Joshua!"

Neku appeared near Hirashi and summoned a black ice spike to impale him at the same time Weiss used a light pillar. "Just hit the bastard while we still have a chance."

Weiss did so. Both he and Neku hit Hirashi. For what it was worth, he flinched. But that's all he did. No other signs of damage. His arms reached out and he grabbed Weiss by the neck and Neku by the shirt. Hirashi smirked, "In case you haven't noticed, my psyches are my rings. I can make explosions anywhere I see." Weiss got to see it up close and personal. One of the rings glimmered and an explosion went off on his neck. It almost killed him. But it might as well had. The explosion to the throat left him open to get hit again. This time by a punch. The amount of force in the punch was impossible. It sent Weiss not into, but through a building. Effectively a one shot KO. That's what happened to Sota. He got hit by one of those punches.

Neku himself got hit by an explosion to the chest, but he didn't just take the blow. He sent a metal orb into Hirashi's face. The explosion knocked Neku away, but he was vulnerable to another attack. Hirashi wasn't injured at all. "It's a shame. Without the power of a Composer, neither of you will defeat me. That was the entry fee for the Clash was it not? The power of the Composer was forfeit the moment the game started. Do you see? You haven't an army to face me. Joshua defeated at my most vulnerable. That time has long past. No matter how many attacks you can muster I will not die. You have no angels to weaken me and no Reapers to betray me. You have no Players to overwhelm me, YOU'VE LOST!"

He rushed at Neku to punch him. A couple of those punches and Neku might die. He sent black flames to damage Hirashi, but he didn't slow down. He was going to kill Neku. Not just disable him. Before his fist reached Neku a giant black plush doll got in the way. The stuffed animal met Hirashi's punch. Not quite at equal ground. But Neku's flame and plasma slowed down Hirashi's moment enough for a giant Mr. Mew to stop the blow. "Get away from my husband!" Shiki and Mr. Mew were there.

A dragon Noise came crashing down on Hirashi and spit fire on him. Thanatos was here too. "Kill me first." Hirashi might actually try to take him up on that. His Noise dragon got blown away by an explosion. Hirashi got up and did the same flicking motion with his fist. The moment his fist opened an explosion went off right on Thanatos. Hirashi muttered, "Show a little mercy and Players will fancy themselves equals." Thanatos got hit and it hurt, but he wasn't going to die.

Kotori sent white energy feathers at him. Which didn't look very impressive, but got Hirashi's attention. She got hit by an explosion. Neku zipped over to catch her and launched metal and plasma at Hirashi at he did. Before he managed to counter Neku Mr. Mew had a very different opinion. It punched Hirashi toward the floor. But when he punched back he sent Mr. Mew flying. 777 arrived, "Who the hell is this guy?!" He sent energy spikes toward Hirashi, but the Noise Composer just ignored them.

Hirashi didn't bother making introductions. He needed to end this. He needed to crush their seed of hope. The only one who knew how to beat him was defenseless. No it wasn't Neku. He pointed his fist at Joshua. "If he dies, so dies your victory."

He might have hit Joshua if a Noise dragon didn't swoop down and grab the rag doll of a body. Joshua was being taken away from him. Now if there was one way to make Hirashi furious, it was taking Joshua away from him. "Damned traitors! You will not take my vengeance away!" He might have got an explosion off except he was preoccupied by Mr. Mews. He didn't bother hitting the Mr. Mew clones. He pointed his hand at Shiki. He set an explosion off, but Neku was next to her. When he tried to make her explode Neku made some sort of dark barrier around himself and Shiki. The explosion didn't reach them.

"You think I'd let anyone but me touch her?" Neku said cooly. But unfortunately unable to stop Hirashi from using his other hand to make an explosion by that Noise dragon.

He might have gone for Joshua again. But instead he stopped. He put his hands down and sighed. He told the group, "Our time is up... We shall meet upon next morning. It is then that our little contest will be decided. Despair until next we meet." It took a while to notice. But Hirashi had a timer on his hand. He only had so long to fight them before the day was done. This was the Clash, but it was still a game. There were rules for how long a day could last. Hirashi vanished as soon as time was up. Leaving all of the players without a taste of victory. Neku had to look around him. Joshua was nearly dead, Weiss was beaten. Sota didn't have a chance and Neku was barely hanging on.

Shiki had to hold him up to keep him from hitting the floor. Kotori may have healed him earlier, but he was fighting from exhaustion. Thanatos knew it from looking around, "That guy would have beaten us if this continued."

Shiki scowled at him for saying that, "Don't say that!"

Kotori got up, "It's true." It pained her to say it, but that nut job would have won. They were just barely staying alive.

Triple Seven blinked a few times, "OK seriously. There are way too many new people here. Are you telling me that one guy, beat the snot out of all of you?"

Thanatos groaned, "We all had to fight some really tough Noise. Watch your mouth porcupine."

Eri just now showed up, carrying Weiss with an arm slung around her shoulder. "We can make with the introductions later. Right now make sure everyone is alright."

Thanatos bragged, "Heh, our group is the only one left with everyone still standing. Nice." He didn't really have long to say that before he just passed out. Then Kotori passed out, then Triple Seven, then Eri. All of them were passing out. Just like players at the end of a mission. There wasn't time to regroup, reorganize or talk a strategy. They were just going straight to the next day. Still, they all survived and even if Hirashi was out there. He was the last Noise champion. Unless they missed somebody.

XXX

He had done his work. Sho Minamimoto stood tall. His eyes were shut and there was no seal on his face. At the top of Pork City tower he laid a fitting trap. His voice was a little different than normal. "They did far better than expected. Still, the day is done. For every day they fail to kill my Echoes..."

Sho smiled, his voice wasn't quite right. His hands were turning gray and he wasn't wearing his hat. "Three is a fine number. I shall take three."

Sho laughed a little then yelled to the sky, "Director! Bring on your angels! Unleash your champions! None shall set foot at my doorstep! What can humans do, but die?" He laughed a little more. Then a little more. Opening his eyes only for a moment. There was no Noise seal on Sho's face, but that didn't mean he wasn't being controlled. On each of his eyes was a Noise symbol. "And make no mistake, they shall die."

XXX

Authors notes:

Alright I updated the Hirashi encounter a little in preparation for the next chapter. Probably need my betas back .

[Yes, a few loose ends to tug against. There's past events that need to be brought to light and they will be brought to light in time. I want to finish the story. This chapter was a little long, but I can't really can't say I'd do it differently. I'd rather the chapter be too long than too short. I don't have a lot of complaints for my own story. I guess I could edit or write better. But I don't really consider myself a great 'writer'. I can come up with a pretty interesting story, sure. But I don't expect my writing style to be the point of entertainment. Still, it's starting to earn a passing grade. The writing is getting more crisp and less clumsy.

I don't expect to make a new chapter quickly due to a number of reasons. 1) My track record. 2) Working on other stories that aren't fanfics (sorry). 3) The chapters are getting longer so it's not like you can just spend 8 hours and hope to be done. This takes a lot of time and always difficult to motivate yourself to keep working. 4) Going out clubbing... Don't tell anyone I'm a mega nerd from fanfictia (It's a real place I swear to God).

On another note the beta for the next chapter is out. PM me for the link and I'll send it to you. Depending on the feedback will determine the speed I complete it.]

-0er0 out


	20. Week Three, Day Six: The Director

[Well I FINALLY finished this monster. It's a little long and I'm half tempted to break it into parts for the reader's sake. However I decided against it and ask for support. I'm going to have to edit week 2 as I promised. Upon editing all chapters I will then work on the final day and declare the story complete. Anyway I won't wast any more of your time. Read away.

For the current Beta visit the forum

topic/75721/103690579/1/The-Final-Day

]

Week 3 Day 6: The Director

0er0

It had been a long time. Years. Hirashi barely bothered to listen to the reports of his Reapers. Every day they'd tell him things like how many died or the status of the game. For the first time in years he actually was interested in something they had to say. "There's a plot to kill you. Lord Hirashi."

"Let them plot."

The beast king, the god slayer and Composer were all the same person. Composers before him kept a low profile. Appearing only as necessary and whispering orders in the shadows. This Composer did not operate incognito. He worked out in the open and his words often echoed his halls. Everyone knew of the Composer and not even one person could say he was loved.

Composers were naturally the ones to blame for problems. No matter what choices in life a player or reaper may have had, it was always the Composer who ultimately who was blamed. The more power you have the more those without wish they had it. Never knowing the confusion and responsibility that comes with great power. How many of you reading know what I'm talking about? How many have been in a position of leadership so great that anything you did had consequences? Few. The Composer is one of those positions. They had power and they got blamed for everything. Their every action left someone in pain and someone else in liberation. People naturally love blaming someone higher up in the chain for what's happening. Every Composer had to learn to accept it with time.

Hirashi needed to study up on his history. Sure you might become all powerful, but for how long? To stay in power you actually need to be a strong leader. Hirashi would say he was strong. He had all the power he needed to dominate all below him. But that was his folly. What he was using his power for.

"Do you know the difference between weak leaders and strong ones? Weak leaders constantly show off their power. They say what they want constantly and expect others to make it happen. The more power the more they push for what they want. They fight their enemies with all their strength and are quick to make enemies. A strong leader rarely shows off their power. They radiate strength so much that demonstrations are never necessary. They fight their enemies with their enemies and are slow to make friends."

Joshua sat on top of a dumpster and sounded almost like he was giving a sermon. To the untrained eye he was completely crazy. Some nutjob kid talking to imaginary people. Joshua was completely crazy, but he wasn't talking to imaginary people. He could see in the Underground and he had dozens of people listening to him.

"What makes you think you can kill him? He's the Composer..." A player asked.

And another player, "He's the one in charge, how can you beat him?"

Joshua kept them in the dark, "Hirashi forgets who's really in charge. He forgets there's always someone above you. What I need from you players is to spread the word. Tell everyone Reaper or Player that this game is over. Tell them that they have two options, they can either help me end the sick state of the Underground or they get out of my way."

This guy was scary. This neatly dressed pretty boy was actually scary. Some of the players actually left right there. As far as options went, they didn't have any. This new kid already erased a massive number of Reapers and the ones who weren't erased joined him. The number of rumors about him were rising. Hirashi had almost no means of collecting intel and no clear enemy to point his wrath at. But Hirashi didn't feel wrath, he felt joy. He laughed when he heard of this uprising. He looked at his Reapers and told them to prepare for war. War came.

Joshua spoke to Hanekoma less and less. It seemed the more he became involved with the Underground. Joshua was changing as he grew. The scared little boy started becoming a scary little boy. He watched people get erased every day and he got jaded to it. He watched reapers and how they operated. He always watched. The more he watched death, the more detached he became from life. School, family and even society lowered on his priority list. His family actually had the nerve to ask him to stay away from Hanekoma. Even back then Hanekoma dabbled in a local coffee shop. Joshua visited him a lot as a kid. Hanekoma taught him about the Underground, Noise and Reapers. To most it seemed like a grown man feeding a child's delusion. To Joshua it was truth and he always came back for more.

Today Joshua didn't come back for that. He came back to thank him. "Sanae."

Hanekoma didn't own his own coffee shop yet, but he worked at one regardless, "Hey chief. What can I get you?"

Joshua answered a little fast, "I came to tell you thank you."

Hanekoma turned his head, "Thank you? Seems a bit of an odd time to say that."

Joshua smiled, "I wanted to let you know... I decided what to do with my life."

Hanekoma smirked and hid the shreds of worry, "That's good isn't it?" There were other people there and normally Joshua had more sense then to talk like this in front of them.

Joshua looked outside at nothing. Or what looked like nothing, "I'm going to help them Sanae."

Hanekoma chuckled, "You can't help everybody, chief."

Joshua turned to the door, "That's exactly who I'm going to help, Sanae. Everyone."

Before Joshua could leave, Hanekoma stopped him, "Josh."

Hanekoma NEVER called him that. Joshua turned to see Hanekoma approaching. Hanekoma started digging through his many pockets. He had a little waiter apron on so he had some extra pockets to check. He finally pulled something out. It was a cell phone. He gave it to Joshua.

Joshua looked at it a while. He inspected the thing like it were an artifact, "What is this?"

Hanekoma didn't quite answer, "If you're going to save everybody... Thought I'd lend a hand. It'll be a while before anyone else makes a phone like that."

Joshua had never seen a cellphone before. That should give you a clue as to what year it was. Cellphones were either non existent or dinosaurs. Joshua didn't put too much thought into it. At this point he'd accept anything from Hanekoma. He knew about the Underground, Noise and Reapers. It was hardly a surprise he had some tech no one else had. Well... it was surprising. But honestly the only constant about Hanekoma was he always surprised you.

Joshua left. He had a job to do. At the moment he wasn't directly a part of the Reaper's Game. But he was about to be. He just needed to go to the right spot and it didn't take him long to find it.

Somewhere quiet to die. It was a enclosed place. He put his hand on a wall. It was the very same wall that Neku would one day look at upon his death. Joshua looked at the blank wall with a smile for a moment. "Someone should really put some paint on this wall." He pulled an old revolver out of his coat and pointed the barrel under his jaw. With a smile he pulled the trigger. Blood splattered the spotless old wall. The first one to paint on it was Joshua.

Joshua got up. He looked at his own disfigured body. He didn't need it anymore. He wore the same clothes as before and in his pocket was the cell phone Hanekoma gave him. For whatever reason the cell phone was never found on Joshua's body. It's like when he died the phone went with him. After glancing at his screen he looked up to see a Megumi Kitaniji. Joshua smirked, "Glad you could make it."

Kitaniji pushed up his glasses, "You told me to wait here for you."

Joshua extended his hand to shake. Instead of a handshake there was a pact formed. "I needed someone to be my partner. Did I miss anything?"

Kitaniji nodded and motioned, "I joined this revolution wondering how you'd kill Hirashi. Now I see you could actually do it. Look above us."

Hirashi's reapers were there although now they weren't Hirashi's Reapers. "I heard about you kid. I'm Kariya. One of Hirashi's officer class Reapers. You've made quite an impression."

Tons of Reapers showed up. There seemed to be a bottomless supply of people willing to double cross Hirashi.

Joshua started walking and guessed, "You've got people on the inside?"

Kariya nodded, "About half of the Reapers openly side with you. The rest are just quietly rooting for you. Even if they're not willing to stand against Hirashi, they're not going to get in your way."

Joshua smirked, "They're waiting to see how this turns out. But we all already know how this will turn out don't we."

Kitaniji reported on behalf of the Players, "The Players outnumber the Reapers. It's as you say. Almost the entirety of them are siding with you."

Joshua figured that, "This is what happens when you don't give players a way to win the game. You take away their hope and you've got an army of martyrs ready to fight you. When you kill your own Reapers you don't have much loyalty. King, Emperor or Composer... when your subjects turn against your throne you'll lose it."

For the Composer this was even more true. The Composer draws power from the whatever area you rule. If your city were to turn against you, your source of power is gone. With their source of power gone that's when their at their most vulnerable. Hirashi was vulnerable, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Kariya... gather your Reapers and kill the Conductor. Leave Hirashi to the Players."

That surprised Kariya a little, "You sure?... Do you need us to do anything else?"

Joshua pulled out his cellphone and started leading a crowd, "Stand back and watch."

XXXX

Joshua woke up in the spot he died for the second time. To think that the Noise could resurrect someone like Hirashi. A former Composer? That's a low blow. But as far as days went, it could have gone worse. He could be erased or in Hirashi's hands right now. Joshua got up and could feel his Soul power at acceptable levels. Well... for NOT being Composer. Normally he had access to enough power to nuke a city full of Noise and he could feel Shibuya. Even if he couldn't feel it anymore, he knew it had to be in pain. He felt the floor, "Don't worry... we'll deal with the Noise. You've felt far too much pain from this cancer."

Joshua sensed someone else. Composer or not, Joshua was an extremely powerful player. Heck even as Composer he barely had to use his real power. It's one of the reasons he beat Hirashi. When you take away a Composer's power. They're forced to fight with their own strength. Hirashi must have forgot. Joshua never did.

When Joshua turned he was surprised to see the Agent. What was an angel doing here? The better question is why did he have his wings and armor? He looked like an older version of Weiss with a very different hair style and a sword. Most of the angels had a thing for white hair, "Joshua."

Joshua expected a lot of things, but he didn't quite know what Agent was there for. Definitely not to kill him. If he wanted to kill Joshua, he wouldn't start off with conversation. Joshua reasoned he was here under orders. "What did the Director send you here for? Why aren't you in a body?" Angels were as point of fact stronger than almost all humans in terms of Soul. The problem was that Angels normally had to have bodies made for them to even visit. And when they had bodies their powers were limited to whatever purpose the Director gave them.

The Agent didn't look happy to be there, "During the Clash spiritual entities may take physical form. This includes Noise."

Joshua gave it some thought. The gears turned, "The Director made you come here to help us as a punishment?"

The Agent didn't necessarily disagree, "I may have used Charon to do it, but I took Hanekoma away from you. Even if it was within my rights, I took a Producer away from Shibuya. If Hanekoma were still here he would be within his rights to defend Shibuya with you."

Joshua understood, "So you're acting as his replacement. The Producer normally supports the Composer on the angel's behalf... I guess it makes sense that if he's not here they'd be inclined to send someone else."

The Agent definitely didn't want to be that said replacement, "I am not the Producer, but I will fulfill all necessary functions normally left to the Producer. If Hanekoma were here he'd have permissions to assist the Composer with both information and supplies."

Joshua loved an angel that jumped to the point, "So what information and supplies can you provide."

The Agent looked in another direction. "You are not currently the Composer."

Joshua crossed arms, "Then why are you talking to me?"

The Agent strained himself. Apparently being in Shibuya without a body was painful for angels. This was a punishment for him in terms of pride too. He was going to be there as long as he needed to be and you could tell by his Soul power that he could probably slaughter an Echo by himself. Even if he could angels were bound by rules. A lot more than humans could imagine. They had free will, sure. But very little options. Angels were extremely restricted on both passing on information and using their powers. Hanekoma always pushed the envelope on what he was allowed to do. The Agent was actually stronger than Hanekoma in terms of raw Soul, but he definitely wasn't as used to humans. He thought they were inferior and heck even hated Joshua. But he was going to do his damned job.

"The power of the Composer was given up as a price for this game. When the game is over a Composer will be chosen by Shibuya. Until a Composer is chosen I am allowed to assist both you and Neku as both could be chosen for Composer. I am bound by law and my assistance will be limited. However... I can assure you that my presence guarantees the Noise will be unable to cheat."

Joshua heard something that caught his interest, "Cheat? Elaborate. How can the Noise cheat."

The Agent smirked, "Yes you are a natural trickster. Like angels. Noise have laws they must follow. The more powerful the noise the more laws they must follow. The Echo Hirashi is unstable enough to break them. He is not allowed to attack players outside of his designated zone. Barriers were put up to mark where he is and isn't allowed to attack players."

Joshua found that interesting, "So you're saying that if he attacks a player who's behind one of his barriers..."

The Agent started leaving, "I've told you what I can. Now I must tell Neku information and supply him with a necessary tool in order to defeat the Noise."

Joshua joked, "Don't I get a tool too? Seems a little unfair."

The Agent commented, "Hanekoma gave you the tool you needed for this moment long ago."

Joshua pulled out his old phone and looked at it. "You mean this?" He said to no one. Agent was gone now. "So that's what it feels like..." Joshua did that to everyone else all the time. Only fair it happens to him every once in a while. Well Joshua might not be able to vanish, but at least he darted off in the right direction.

XXX

Normally after a skip we start off with a single character waking up. This being mentioned because this wasn't a normal character waking up. This was a crowd of people all waking up at the same time. Shiki, Eri, Beat, Rhyme, Kariya, Uzuki, Kotori, Shooter, Thanatos, Nanami, Weiss and finally Neku all woke up in the same spot... at the same time. It might have been less noisy if they woke up one at a time or weren't in a giant pile.

So to present the illusion of how noisy it was. "Ahh!" "Ugh!" "Dude get off of me!" "Who's on my butt?!" "Who's on my wife's butt?!" "Whooooaaa!" "Pipe down and spread out... Geeze you're like a bunch of children." "Get your face off of my foot!" "Get your foot off my face!" "Calm down and stop fighting... Also Thanatos... move your face." "I'll move my face out of your cleavage when someone gets off of me." "Who's on my mom's cleavage?!" "Chill out asshole!" "Call Neku that again and we're gonna go blue boy." "Beat don't get into a fight... I'm getting off everyone." "How come Rhyme ended up on top?" "I landed on something soft." "That'd be me, Weiss." "Oh hey, Nanami. Sorry I didn't end up in a sexy location." "I'm not, get off." "I can't feel my hands." "I can they're on my butt!" "No one touches Shiki's butt except for me! When we get out of this pile I'm grabbing her butt!"

Eri sat a clear distance away. "How come I landed over here?"

Agent answered, "Because you're the only one in this group I didn't hate."

Standing there. Not in a human body, in his actual angel form. It had armor on he even had a sword on his belt. His eyes were burning and he looked like an older version of Weiss. He had white hair, but it was styled considerably different than Weiss. He had the same face for the most part except his expression was never smiling. He always stood there with his arms crossed.

Everyone shouted, "You!"

Agent would have smirked if he wasn't in pain, "I'll take some enjoyment where I can get it. Before you complain, I'm the one who saved your asses. I called the fight off early before you idiots got yourselves killed."

Weiss got off fairly quickly, "Could you have landed me on Nanami's chest or legs next time?"

Nanami kicked him off the pile and he went tumbling into a wall.

They weren't listening very well. They were all too busy trying to get out of a pile. "Why do you have such tiny attention spans?... How do you stand this place?"

Finally the pile of people spread out. Everyone got off one another, got some distance and took a deep breath. After a moment of silence everyone took decisive action.

Thanatos said, "Well that wasn't so bad."

Kotori slapped Thanatos.

Neku grabbed Shiki's butt.

Shiki batted his hand away.

Kariya and Uzuki nursed their respective foot or face. (Kariya the face of course.)

Shooter was still looking at his hand, "Whoa..."

Eri kept Beat from attacking Thanatos.

Rhyme just sighed.

They might not have settled down if the Agent hadn't started talking loud enough to turn some heads. "I'm standing in for Hanekoma. During the clash the angels are allowed to send one and only one angel to assist you. I'm here to provide information or items that you'll require."

Rhyme had a question. She had a soft polite voice when talking. "Excuse me, but how come you're helping us if you hate us?"

Beat surprised everyone with the fact he was paying attention, "The Director made you din't he?"

The Agent didn't answer. He was busy mentally keeping his mind clear. Noise in their nature made angels sick or pained them. It's one of the reasons they needed human bodies when coming to Earth. Right now the Agent didn't have a human form. So he just had to bear with the uncomfortable experience. Still he was doing a good job at hiding it for the most part. It felt like he had a mix of migraine and stomach ache.

Nanami had a question now, "Also isn't Weiss the Director?"

The Agent answered that one, "Weiss' soul will merge back with the Director when he goes back to the Angel plane. Down here in Shibuya he's just as helpless as the rest of you. Don't expect Weiss to have access to any of the Director's knowledge or power."

Weiss smirked, "Well I'm glad you're helping us. At this point since the Clash already started, so I imagine even if you don't like us... you'd want us to win?"

Agent glanced at Weiss with examining gaze, "It's in my best interest to ensure you win, yes. And to that end I've been asked to pass along information. Hanekoma might not be here, but I can still relay his messages to you. From the angel plane he's in constant contact with me during the duration of the Clash. He currently wants to apologize that he can't be here. And I quote, 'Charon really did a number on me'."

Shiki seemed pleased, "Will you be back to Shibuya?"

Agent answered for him, "Only if you win."

Neku stepped up and wanted to get straight to business. Time was ticking and even if the mission hadn't started, they needed to make use of what time they had. "Where's Joshua? We're also missing Triple Seven, Sota and Nao. Where are they?"

The Agent unfoled his arms and pointed up to the sky, "I couldn't save all of you. I ended the day early before Hirashi could finish the rest of you off. By technicality Hirashi won yesterday's battle so three players were erased: Sota, Nao and Triple Seven. If you fail to kill the remaining Echoes you'll lose another three players every day, until you lose. Currently only two Echoes remain."

Weiss tried comforting them, "Don't worry, I'm sure the Director will bring everyone back if we win? Or if not we'll just ask Joshua or Neku to do it. The Composer could bring people back too. All we have to do is win."

The Agent scoffed, "All you have to do? You're talking about fighting the most powerful memories the Noise could get their hands on. Hirashi alone is too much for you to handle."

Neku meant to ask about that, "I've been meaning to ask about Hirashi. What is he exactly? He was much stronger than the other Echoes."

The Agent grunted with pain. Apparently the Noise in the area were making him feel worse. "The Clash may be an important game, but it's a game nonetheless. Every game has a price. Do you remember what your price for entering the game was?"

Weiss answered, "Well it was the power of the Composer. It's a fitting price when a city is at stake."

The Agent took in a deep breath and tolerated his aches, "Where do you think that price went? You can't just make the power of a Composer disappear. So where do you think it is now?"

Thanatos was pretty observant, "The Noise took it, right? If they took it then they'd probably give it to the most inconvenient person they could... They gave it to an echo."

The Agent went ahead and said it, "Although he isn't a true human... Hirashi currently has the power of the Composer. In life he was Composer, so it seems the Noise decided to use him as their trump card. You're up against a Noise with the power of a Composer."

Silence.

Then Shooter remembered he hated silence. "Well screw that! We still gotta win! I may be new to all this angel and noise stuff... But I know I'm right! We fight him and we kill him! That simple!"

Nanami shrugged, "He may be hyperactive but he's right. We still need to defeat Hirashi, but maybe if all of us work together we can kill him."

Neku bowed his head. The Agent said two Echoes remained, not just Hirashi. That meant somewhere there was another Echo walking around. They needed to erase the Echoes today or they'd lose another three players. Losing three players was a death sentence now. Still they couldn't lose hope. Neku had trouble believing that a Noise could really have the full power of a Composer. But even if he didn't have the full Composer power, he was still strong enough to take everyone on.

Rhyme piped in, "So... You never did say where Joshua was."

The Agent told her flatly, "He's currently going off on his own to fight Hirashi. He doesn't stand a prayer of a chance."

Nanami fathomed a guess, "Maybe he has a plan to distract him? You know, while we deal with the other Echo?"

Neku asked one more question, "Who's the other Echo we need to defeat? Some other ancient reaper? Some other Composer?"

Agent's eyes darted up and down really fast. The was a split second where he was surprised by what he was hearing. Apparently he himself didn't know what Noise they were fighting. Judging by his surprise it wasn't a good sign.

The Agent exhaled a sigh and told them, "Sho Minamimoto."

XXXX

Joshua was surprisingly fast for being a prissy little kid. Somehow he had a way of running really fast without sweating. He was smiling too. Judging by his build he couldn't bench forty pounds, but he must have been able to run for hours. Floating noise seals floated around him. They weren't there to fight him, but they were watching with interest. He should have been running TOWARD his friends and allies. Instead he was running in the exact opposite direction of everyone else.

"Just about there."

He passed a barrier and found who he was looking for. It was Hirashi the god slayer. Hirashi was just comfortably sitting on a park bench. On his face was a sleepy stare at the sky. He was bored and it looked like he was about to fall asleep. He looked at the Noise in the sky and spoke to them while no one listened, "You don't control me... Noise will never surpass the will of a Composer."

Joshua slid to a stop a good distance away. Hirashi didn't seem to notice his presence. Joshua looked around a little. Taking in every possible place for cover. He'd need cover for what he was about to do.

"You're not a Composer, Hirashi. You're just a really powerful Noise."

Hirashi's boredom left his face. It was replaced with excitement. "Joshua... I expected you to bring an army. Yet you come to me alone as if you're my equal. We are not equals Joshua."

Joshua had a way of getting on people's nerves, "I like to think of Noise as ones inner demons. Monsters that we create for ourselves. I've done a lot of a bad things, Hirashi. But killing you isn't something I regret in the least."

Hirashi chuckled and approached with his long mane flapping wildly in different directions thanks to the wind. The weather was kicking up. "Bad things? Joshua... you forget who I am. I know you better than anyone else in the world."

Joshua stop smiling, "How's that?"

Hirashi laughed and waved his arms around him. With an elaborate spin he presented the buildings around him, "Take a look around you. This is YOUR world. This is MY world. We are Composers, we know exactly how this works. You say you've done 'bad' things? Bad? You're incapable of comprehending such a thing. Power. It's power Joshua. It's your complete disregard for human life that makes you like me. You enjoy watching humans suffer. You hate them. They reject you, they've always rejected you. Ever since you were a child everyone and everything has turned their sword against you. But for every man who makes himself an enemy, you strike them down. You have no pity and you have no remorse. You feel nothing for the pain you cause. As long as it serves a 'greater good' you'd gladly murder or erase."

Joshua frowned. That was twisted logic, but he was being honest. "You never believed in a greater good."

Hirashi laughed hard. Then he cocked his head and focused on Joshua, "No. No I never believed in a greater good. It doesn't exist. When I was Composer I craved destruction and suffering. Suffering is what makes us strong Joshua. Suffering builds character and it shapes us. But I never gave a damn about that. I just loved watching people in pain. I loved watching brother erase brother. Friend become foe. I longed for combat and I made Shibuya my own. I became Composer through my force of will. As you did... You are like me Joshua. Do not deny it. You watch people suffer and laugh. You enjoy striking your enemies down. You enjoy the fear they feel when they meet you. You may hide behind your logic, but your soul is just as black and frozen as mine!"

Joshua bent his head. It was true, really. Part of him was evil. He liked the fact he was feared. He hated Shibuya and it was even true he didn't feel a thing when people around him suffer. He put his friends through hell. When Joshua met Neku, there was hatred between them. Joshua welcomed this hatred and even spurned the very idea of really being partners. Joshua wanted Neku to win so he could erase everyone and everything. Joshua was a villain like any other. But something happened along the way. The journey changed Neku and to a lesser degree himself. Cold logic dictated Shibuya was beyond saving. Even now it was beyond saving. But it wasn't cold logic that drove Joshua anymore.

"There's no mistake Hirashi... I know what you are."

Hirashi made a playful smile, "What am I?"

Joshua pointed up at the sky, "You're not Hirashi... you're my inner demons. The reason you're so strong is because I have the most to answer for. You're me. The noise took the pieces of me I hated the most and made you. You're a combination of Noise, memory and my Composer power. The Noise made you from me..."

Hirashi's face twisted up. The Noise seal on his face flickered like a flame. "You're saying such things to enrage me... to make me doubt my importance. I am Hirashi the Beast King!"

Joshua smirked and pissed him off even more, "The power of the Composer was taken as a price, wasn't it? Wouldn't it be something if a fraction of my power was actually hiding in you? I'm the real Composer of Shibuya... My soul and Shibuya became one. If you really have the power of a Composer than that means you're using my power to use it... You're using my soul to do it. The reason you're an Echo at all is because they made you from my power. They made you from me, didn't they?"

Hirashi's seal burned a little brighter, "I am not some simple plaything..." The Echo started going through a short identity crisis and roared as the Noise seal on his face burned. Hirashi grabbed his face and shook. The Noise seal on his face was messing with him now. His mental defenses were breaking. His sanity washing away. Then all at once it stopped. The seal on his face faded. An expression of calm once again on Hirashi's face. "It doesn't matter what I am, does it? If I am Hirashi, then my hatred for you comes from a desire for revenge. But if I am you..."

Hirashi lunged forward and punched Joshua in the chest. It sent him flying backwards. Hirashi finished his statement, "Then you hate yourself just as much."

Joshua forgot how strong this guy was. He might not have been a real Composer, but he sure as hell hit like one. What's worse is that Joshua didn't have any allies or Composer power of his own. This was a one on one fight. It seemed strange that he would go charging in alone against such an opponent. Joshua could feel it though. There were bits of himself in this Noise. Bits of himself he didn't care to admit he had. The ruler of Noise was called Cacophony and it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say he took bits of Joshua when he made this Echo. If Joshua's theory was correct Cacophony put some Composer power in this lunatic. In short Joshua was up against a super Noise with some of his own Composer powers. This sucked.

Hirashi had a signature attack. It was simple, but extremely dangerous. He'd ball up his hand into a fist and then stylishly flick his hand open in a direction. Wherever he flicked his hand exploded. Recall that the explosion is instant, meaning that you don't have a bolt to dodge, you have to avoid his hand being pointed at you in the first place. It was like a gun. You avoided it being pointed at you not the bullet being fired. Hirashi got off the first attack and Joshua didn't have enough momentum going to possibly dodge it. He held up his phone and created a sort of energy bubble around himself. The explosion shattered his little barrier in one hit. Honestly the force of the attack didn't hurt Joshua, but it sent him flying.

Joshua used that to his advantage. He pressed a button on his phone and started running. Joshua ran FAST. It might have been the explosion that gave him some speed, but the scrawny little kid could move when he wanted to. Honestly it'd be a surprise to anyone to see Joshua run. As a Composer he always walked or teleported. In battle he hovered or walked. For this he was running and he had to for what came next.

Hirashi started launched another attack. It was well aimed. He hit where Joshua was going, rather than where he was standing. But once again Joshua held up his phone and created another weak barrier. It only lasted an instant but it was enough to keep him from being injured. Joshua smirked and clicked a few buttons on his phone.

Hirashi noticed the timing on those barriers of his. "If there is anything true about you, Joshua. It is that you are slippery." Before he attacked again he noticed a bicycle falling from the sky. That and other pieces of junk were falling towards him. Hirashi just laughed. The moment was just too pathetic. Joshua didn't even have a plan did he? Joshua had a reputation for being clever and he normally had a habit of being a step ahead of his enemy. But this? This was a joke. A pitiful joke worthy of sad laughter. "I had thought you had brought allies with you. I thought perhaps you had some plan or some trump card to play." The bicycle hit Hirashi, but he didn't even flich. The bike just uselessly bonked him and fell over.

Hirashi pointed his arm at Joshua and glared, "You're just intend to stall. You intend to have your allies erase the other Noise while you keep me preoccupied? So be it! You shall have my undivided attention!" He focused and flicked his hand. That's when he noticed a vending machine fall in the way of his line of sight. The explosion hit the vending machine, not Joshua. The vending machine was completely destroyed, but Joshua was fine.

Joshua smiled and toyed with Hirashi's emotions, "I intend to do more than keep you occupied Hirashi. By the time this day ends you're going to be dead and I'm going to be smiling."

Hirashi's face twisted up in anger. He pulled back his hand and started using both hands. Each one of them set off an explosion. He could alternate between hands and set off more explosions. The falling junk wasn't going to keep Joshua safe at all. Sooner or later he'd get hit by one of those massive attacks and Joshua wasn't a Composer. He was a white boy with bad fashion. Hirashi had enough punch in those attacks to kill him. He didn't intend to waste time. He was going to kill Joshua there and then. He couldn't risk letting him live another day.

Joshua was calling down all sorts of random crap. Trucks, light poles and vending machines. Some of them hit Hirashi, but he didn't even seem slightly hurt. Hirashi wasn't like other Echoes. It'd take a lot more than what Joshua had to hurt him. Joshua timed his jumps to ensure he wasn't in line of sight of Hirashi. Even a second of being in the open could be potentially lethal. Joshua darted between two buildings and made a run for it. Hirashi didn't run after him. Instead he just pointed both hands at the building that blocked his path and turned it to rubble. The flying pieces of concrete served as a grenade effect. Joshua didn't seem to be hit. He was still running. So he ducked behind another building. But Hirashi once again made the whole thing come crashing down. He blew up one side of the building and just let the rest of it come tumbling down.

When the building fell Hirashi hopped on it for a vantage point. He surveyed the area and caught sight of Joshua once again. Joshua wasn't even moving, he was just waiting at the corner of a building. Hirashi smirked and set off an explosion. This was just a game of cat and mouse. If Joshua kept hiding behind buildings the flying concrete would eventually hit him. If Joshua kept calling junk from the sky he'd just get tired. "Aren't you going to hide?"

He set off the explosion where Joshua was. But was surprised that Joshua didn't even bother avoiding it, he just barely leaned over and activated his energy shield for all it was worth. Sure he'd survive, but why not avoid? That's when Hirashi noticed what he was standing next to. The corner of a building, a pillared building at that. The explosion went off and tore that concrete pillar into pieces like it was balsa wood. When a building has a fifth of the bottom torn off that fast it falls. Hirashi looked up and saw the building coming down. Joshua was standing right where the building would fall on Hirashi and you know what? It actually landed on him.

Joshua huffed and started moving. He didn't bother checking if that killed Hirashi or not. It almost certainly didn't. Joshua had to move and fast. He had to start getting distance. The more distance the better.

The building cracked before it shattered into a million pieces. Inside was a very pissed off Hirashi. Hirashi turned his head right where Joshua was running. Joshua kept tapping his phone and prayed to himself that this might actually work out. He managed to get behind a truck to avoid one explosion then he looked up and smiled. A refrigerator from the heavens! Joshua ran and kicked off a building. But it seemed Hirashi didn't set an explosion off just yet. Actually he stopped attacking for a few seconds. Which was a warning sign for Joshua. Joshua turned his head and saw what Hirashi was doing. He was charging up with both hands. Ducking behind something wasn't going to work. He was going to blow up a whole city block.

Hirashi charged up an impressive sized energy ball with both of his fists. The ball was bigger than he was. "Now Joshua... you die." He let out a yell and the energy he charged off exploded. Glass on all the nearby buildings shattered. The force of the wind alone send cars and trucks flying. He wasn't even aiming at those. Joshua wasn't going to be able to block this one. He wasn't going to be able to duck behind something. He was going to get hit for sure.

Dust settled.

Hirashi walked forward. Ready for an ambush that would not come. He looked around the wreckage. The whole street was in ruin. Hirashi tried sensing Joshua and he could feel he was still alive. But he had to pinpoint exactly where. "I'm glad you lived, Joshua. I've been toying with a lot of ideas on how to kill you as painfully as possible."

Hirashi stopped and smiled he could see where Joshua was. He must have been hiding behind the refrigerator or something. Then the refrigerator swung open. Joshua came tumbling out of the refrigerator. "Apparently refrigerators can protect you from giant explosions." Joshua was unharmed and there were few solid explanations for how he was so lucky. (To those of you who are wondering. Refrigerators do NOT protect you from nukes. The force from the bomb would kill you inside the fridge and the heat from the nuke would actually cook you to death if the force didn't instantly kill you. And indeed it was the crowning moment of fail for the Indiana Jones movies.)

Joshua had to make that joke then ran towards the nearby bicycle. The explosion apparently didn't damage the bike because Joshua got on it and started expertly peddling and avoiding rubble. He actually had to pick up the bike and run for some moments. There was a lot of wreckage, but Joshua was going to ride that bicycle for all it was worth. He started alternated between looking at the street and using his phone. All the wreckage made great cover for the incoming explosions, but it was good to have some falling junk to distract Hirashi.

Hirashi had enough. He needed to catch Joshua quickly and there was one way to do that quickly. He grunted a moment and pulsed with light. The Noise seal on his face burned and his eyes turned slit. The eyes of a beast fixating on the distancing Joshua. "Run all you like little boy... there's no way out of this. There's no clever plan, there's no scheme and there's help coming for you. I will make you listen to your bones break one by one. I don't give a damn about this game or this city... I WILL KILL YOU!" He let out a roar that could be heard throughout the city. The Beast King had unleashed his Noise form.

XXX

The Agent didn't really like being reduced to a messenger boy. It's true aiding humans in the clash was considered a high honor even among powerful angels. But sadly the Agent felt this was below his paygrade. The Agent might not have been as friendly or helpful as Hanekoma, but he had a LOT more raw power. Hanekoma was his underling and most angels were below him in rank. His greatest flaw was that he hated humans. Most angels did. Humans did little more than screw up wherever you put them. While it's true humans added a certain amount of charm to the world, honestly everyone would be better off if you just erased them. Humans made Noise and Angels usually ended up the ones fighting them. He was one of the top angels... yet... It seemed Neku and Joshua had won the Director's favor. He was wrong. Humans might actually be able to clean up their messes. He might not like humans, but it seemed these ones were stepping up.

The funny thing about power was it had different forms. The Noise used negative Soul. Basically Noise took whatever was bad and made it their strength. Angels hated it and it made them weak. Negative Soul was how you could kill an angel. But there was a flip side to their weakness. Things like Noise stood almost no chance at killing an angel. Angels used the power of the Director and positive Soul. More or less the attacks angels used could completely obliterate most Noise instantly. The short simple version was: Noise could hurt them, but they could hurt Noise. Humans were actually the most resistant beings to both. Humans could exist completely surrounded by negative Soul or for that matter positive Soul. When the Agent fought against Neku and Joshua he was reminded of this. His attacks weren't nearly as effective on humans as they would be on other angels or Noise. Still... humans were normally so weak. Why were these humans so strong? Why was it that a Composer was willing to bet everything on their victory?

These things didn't matter. He needn't question why. The Director gave him his orders and like any angel. He would obey without a second thought. It was shameful he didn't recognize the Director's plan sooner. He was testing these humans long ago. One of the reasons the Agent hated humans so much was because of how much suffering the Director went though. If an angel or demon crossed something as powerful as the Director there would be instant retribution. The Director had a fierce reputation of punishing insubordination. Yet for humans he just seemed to let them be. Six years go he made Weiss with what seemed to be the full intention of erasing Shibuya. As Weiss he was able to see Shibuya from a human's perspective. While Weiss was created from the Director's own soul, it seemed not even Weiss knew what he was. Even without knowing it, Weiss was serving as a proxy for the Director. The Director modified Weiss' memories according to what he needed to know. There were even times where he decided to give Weiss access to his power. As the Director's proxy he was able to see and hear imprints. Using the words 'tell me' he could even force lesser beings to speak the truth. But what Agent didn't understand was why? Why did the Director do these things? Again, he needn't question why.

There probably wasn't much time. Joshua was giving them a window of opportunity to destroy the other remaining Echo. As things stood they were up against an equally dangerous opponent.

"Sho Minamimoto is the Echo of Taboo. Ordinarily he'd be the strongest and last Echo you'd want to face. We're not sure what he's doing at the moment or what he is preparing for your arrival. If you are going to attack him go at him with everything you have. Other Echoes have boundaries or rules they most respect, the Taboo is allowed to go anywhere in Shibuya and even summon other Noise to help him."

Shiki questioned, "So the other Echoes couldn't summon Noise?"

Rhyme noticed it too, "I guess not. None of them summoned Noise."

Kotori commented, "I saw Okami do it, but he only did so in response to my summoning of Noise."

The ladies were perceptive. "For the purposes of the Clash, no most Echoes can't summon Noise. The Echo of Taboo can." Agent said.

Neku asked the more important question, "Is there a limit to how many he can summon? Or how fast?"

The Agent looked up as if to relay what he was hearing from the Director, "He can summon hundreds of Noise, but he can only summon about a dozen at one time. Then he'd have to wait a minute or so before he could summon more."

Thanatos caught on, "So we erase him fast before he can summon an army. Since he's working for that Noise king thing, he can probably summon them endlessly."

The solution was simple. Even Beat understood, "So we kill him before he can summon a ton of them! Easy."

Rhyme felt a sweatdrop, "I think you might be oversimplifying it."

Weiss smirked, "Not really. That's really what we have to do."

Nanami wanted to get to it, "Where is Sho? Do you know?"

The Agent actually didn't know directly. He looked up as if listening to someone from upstairs. After a moment he said, "Show me your phones."

Each of them reached into their pockets. Some opened the phone. Some tried to hand it to the Agent and Beat didn't bother pulling out his phone. The Agent snapped his fingers and all the phones jolted with an odd colored gray electricity. It actually hurt to touch. After the jolt almost all of them dropped their phone. The only execptions being Neku who held the phone gripped, Weiss just caught the phone with his other hand and Beat who had his phone in his shorts. Beat let out a yelp. Apparently his leg got shocked instead of his hand.

All of the phones got a new Sho Minamimoto detection application. Which was definitely going to prove handy. The bastard was fast normally. Catching him was going to take cutting him off with groups. Honestly there was no telling how difficult of an open he'd become now that he'd made himself an ally of the Noise.

"The Noise are having some difficulty controlling the Echo of the Taboo. It's possible you might be able to use this to your advantage. Go now and find him while there's time."

XXX

Have you ever woken up in a world where everything was upside down? Where the sky was red and the sun was black? Have you ever found yourself shackled by barbed wire and junk. Have you ever felt like you couldn't think? Like your very soul was being violated? Neither had Sho, until now.

"You awaken." Voices said in unison. There must have have been hundreds of voices, some of them sounded calm and some of them sounded like they were screaming. Different tones and pitches, but not all sounded human. It was painful to listen to, but somehow beautiful that so many things could talk at once. All in harmony and discord the voice spoke again, "Welcome to my world."

Sho grunted and tried to look. He felt weak, but not beaten. His eyes glared up like an angry animal that didn't like the fact it was caged. "Your world is garbage." He said defiantly.

At that he heard laughter. All in unison, hundreds of voices. It sounded terrible painful. So many sounds and all strung together perfectly. "My world is endless, as is my power." Despite the fact there were so many voices they were all coming from one person or what might be considered a person. It was a large humanoid figure. No hair, eyes or signs of gender. It was Noise, it was ALL of the Noise taken physical form. It's body was mostly see through. Noise seals covered the outside of it's body like skin. It had two impressive Noise seals instead of wings. But they fluttered slowly as if he did not need them to stay afloat. A symbol stamped on it's head area gave it the illusion of a face. This thing was smiling at Sho. It must have been smiling. "I am Cacophony. I sing to you now, that you may hear my voice. Shibuya is mine, as are you."

Sho had never felt something like this before. This kind of power was reserved to gods. It made even the power of the Composer feel insignificant. This thing wasn't just a Noise, it was THE Noise. All of them. Their combined power and will creating one avatar. This thing's power literally had no limit. It might actually be infinitely strong. If you could somehow take it's Soul power and make it applicable to real world energy, this thing was a star. It could have devoured the world many times over. It wanted to devour the world. Every lifeform on earth wouldn't satisfy it's hunger. Needless to say it was terrifying to see. Sho could barely think with all the negative energy in the air. Negative energy in high amounts often made people become angry or confused. What Sho was feeling was his brain being smashed like a brick. He could barely talk or think at all and he was one of the most resistant people to Noise in the world.

"I hold myself back, that you may speak. My presence distorts, but you are strong. Tell me your desires human. Tell me what you want the world to become. You are mine and you shall be my greatest instrument. Become one with my will and even angels shall flee in terror. Join my side and I shall give you whatever you desire. You shall have power beyond the world's Composers. All desires and comforts will be granted if you will but yield."

Sho smiled. That must have been a pretty tempting offer. I mean more or less a god figure was offering him the world on a silver platter. "Go..." Sho began.

Cacophony waited with crossed arms. "Speak human, speak your desires. I shall make them so."

Sho repeated, "Go..." He coughed a little and smirked, "Go factor yourself."

Cacophony gave a curious head tilt. The Noise seal for a face changed color and shape to make an expression of thought. Like changing a mask as it felt different emotions. "You mock me? How curious. Why is it that you have a reason to defy me? What ideal do you yet cling to?"

Sho shook a little, there was no way he was going to struggle his way out of this prison. He was strapped down tight by metal and barbwire. "Do the math, you don't own me."

Cacophony went to a gray colored blank face. It felt nothing now. "I can see your soul, human. I can see that you are defiant to the very core of your being. But fear not, human." Cacophony pointed a single finger towards Sho's chest. The finger fired out and impaled Sho through the heart while still attached to Cacophony's hand. Cacophony began talking as it twisted the finger around. It ignored Sho's grunts. "There is no human soul I cannot break. There is no defiance I cannot remold into new purpose. I will use you, human. Struggle as much as you like, you are mine."

Sho grunted. A normal human would be screaming in pain. It was like having a metal pole stuck in your heart. Just to be mean the monster wasn't holding still. "You can't divide infinity. You can't divide zero. Don't you get it? Even if I'm just a yoctogram to you, I'm one yoctogram you can't have. I'm Sho Minamimoto you son of a digit!"

Cacophony changed to a disappointed look and color. "You not infinite. Not yet, human. Only once your power merges with mine will you be truly invulnerable. There is time, human. There is all the time in the world. I will break you. I had hoped the transition might end this way. For if you had joined me immediately, I would have missed the opportunity to break you. Squirm human. Cry out for mercy, I shall give it. So long as your spirit is broken. You are mine human. I need only to prove it to you." From his hand to his finger he sent some sort of electrical attack. The finger that was in Sho's heart wasn't killing him, but it was painful. Cacophony sent a wave of negative energy. Even Sho had to yell when he felt it. The more time went by the worse it got. It was sickening really. Sho wasn't really even that good of a guy, but no one would want to see him tortured. The Noise was determined to bend him to their will. Sho was strong willed, but even he would eventually break.

This needed to end soon. Sho knew what was going on. Cacophony was fighting for control of his body. He needed Sho to submit fully for his plan to work. Sho wasn't going to. Cacophony seemed amused, "Whether you break or not, you are mine. Perhaps when I am victorious you will see. Do not worry, human. I shall not destroy what is mine. I shall mold you into my instrument. Your willingness is only required for your own comfort. To me this is but a game. Well human? Shall we play?"

XXX

Finding Sho Minamimoto was sure to be a difficult challenge. He was fast on his own, with the power of the Noise empowering him he was sure to be even faster. Sho could summon Taboo Noise like a superhuman genius. With the Noise in control he could probably go far beyond his human limits. Sho naturally had a lion form for a Noise and he normally needed Taboo Noise nearby to be in it. In this case he was probably going to avoid them all day. They might not find him until tomorrow. Well you'd think so anyway.

They day started, the countdown begun. No timers. They had all day. Turn nightfall it'd be over. They'd lose three more players and at that point it'd be over. They'd lose their best chance at victory. They'd probably lose Joshua too. Joshua was busy distracting Hirashi with no way of actually killing him. The best chance they'd have to track Sho was with everyone working together.

The Agent didn't wish them well. He just vanished. Angels and Composers had a tendency to just vanish. Besides they needed to spend as much time hunting as possible. They needed to find Sho and finish the day. The moment the day started. They had to find him.

As much as you'd expect Sho to be far away and moving evasively, he wasn't. He was waiting in the middle of the street, not far. He wasn't moving and he wasn't setting up a trap. He was just waiting for them. The expression on his face was calm and at ease. Not the usual tense glare. No sign of cockiness, just tranquil humility.

"I welcome you." He said in his voice, but it sounded like the wrong tone. But something else was more noteworthy. He wasn't saying what Sho would. Normally Echoes pretend to be whoever they're made from. Sho wasn't pretending. Sho wasn't even erased. How was it that the Noise took control of him?

His skin was somewhat gray. The Noise seal normally on the face of an Echo wasn't there. He kept both eyes shut as he waited. "All have come. Welcome to my game."

Beat had a bad habit for making bad comebacks, "Up yours Sho! I'm sick of you. We're all sick of you! Just stay dead already!"

That's when 'Sho' laughed. It wasn't Sho Minamimoto in that body. It wasn't Sho Minamimoto laughing. When he opened his eyes even Beat understood. There wasn't a Noise seal on his face, but there were Noise seals on his eyes. No pupils and no reflection. Just glazed out Noise seals. Whatever was controlling him was just using that body, "Sho was the name of this human, was it not? He is a prisoner now. My prisoners are well chained. There is no need to rescue him. He is in my world and if you wish it, I will show it to you."

Weiss knew who it was by instinct alone They all did, "You're Cacophony aren't you?"

Sho's expression was that of bliss. It didn't suit his face at all. "All have heard my voice. All have listened and all have perished. So human, have you come to play my game?"

Neku spoke next, "This isn't your game."

Shiki agreed, "You haven't won and you're not going to win."

Cacoshony (I totally made that pun) didn't seem to think so, "How is it that you intend to win? Even if you erased Hirashi and this human vessel, what have you accomplished? Did you think the game would end? That you would be declared victorious? Humans cling to dim hope do they not? I love humans. For you are my creators, I am what lies inside all of you. I am your nature and I am your world. This contest will not be decided by my guardian's demise. Echoes are indeed my protectors, but I have no need of them. The Clash requires you fight against my Noise. You have fought well. You have endured countless victories."

Thanatos smirked, "I feel so honored. Being complimented by the world's biggest dickhole. Get the hell out of our city, find a place to screw yourself and then die."

Shophony (that one sounds better) laughed at the snark. It's the same way a parent laughs at a child threatening their parent, "I adore you human. The negative energy within you is beautiful. Ah such a Noise you shall make. It is suffering that makes you what you are. It was because she died, was it not? This cruel world took her from you, didn't it?"

Thanatos didn't have time for this thing's bullcrap, "This cruel world? He piss poor excuse for a dad did that. The drunk bastard beat her. I tried to take her away from her dad and you know the cops do? They bring her right back to her dad. The reason she's dead isn't because the world is cruel. She's dead because drunk bastards like him exist."

Shophony smiled sweetly, "She is dead because you failed to save her. If you had done it sooner, you'd still be holding at night wouldn't you? You long to see her again in heaven or hell. But that is wishful thinking. Death is the end. There no seeing her again. You're alone and you'll die alone."

Thanatos gave a look of rage that no one had ever seen before. He didn't make a counter point, he just charged in head first to kill whoever said that.

Rhyme tried to reason with him, "No don't! Thanatos stop!"

Thanatos didn't stop he summoned up his Noise and put all his power into his Noise dragon. He was going to nuke the bastard. The only problem was he didn't get to. The Noise dragon didn't obey it just screamed and changed color. Thanatos didn't care he charged in to punch him. Thanatos was being stupid. The negative energy in his Soul was driving him berserk.

Sho-Cacophony kept smiling at him. Then reached out as if to crush a dangling spider. He grabbed Thanatos by the neck effortlessly. He sent massive amounts of energy through is arm and through Thanatos' neck. "A lovable little fool. A man trying to use his own negative power against the very essence of Noise. Perhaps wise... For it is better to die here quickly by my hand. For then you'll be at peace. In death you'll finally be able to forgive yourself for what happened. She's dead. Why shouldn't you be? However small the chance, you pray there's a chance you'll see her again in whatever afterlife there may be. You don't even believe in the afterlife, yet you hope it exists. What a contraction. Perhaps it is time to suffer." He talked and moved at the same time. In order to keep others he moved FAST. The bastard was pouring energy into Thanatos until the poor boy passed out. The words were just a catalyst.

This was Cacophony. He could turn someone's own negative energy against them. Even in a human body he could use this dangerous technique. Thanatos was an easy target. Just say something to hurt him and it creates Noise within oneself. Normally Thanatos used it as a weapon. But against this guy it was just like handing him a weapon on a silver platter. It didn't take long. He just dropped Thanatos in order to move on. Thanatos was a tough bastard too. To be taken down quickly was a shock. He wasn't erased, no. But he wasn't going to help for a while.

Sho's body was fast. With Cacophony controlling it, it was just as fast, but a bit awkward. The steps he was taking didn't seem natural. Well adapted, sure, but not natural. If it had been the real Sho controlling himself, he'd be even better at dodging. After taking out Thanatos he tried to dodge, but he got hit by Beat. Sho was fast, but Beat was pretty damned fast when you put him on a skateboard. Even faster when you countenance the fact he REALLY wanted to his this guy in the face.

When Beat punched him that triggered a number of things. Neku came next. He launched a volley of bolts and charged them with some lightning for flavor. Mr. Mew was fast enough to get a hit in, even with Shiki considerably too slow to hit Sho directly. If they were up against the real Sho, he might have been able to avoid them. But they weren't up against Sho, they were up against the Noise god Cacophony. And yes, fighting a lesser god meant they would stand no chance of fighting him for real. Humans were great and all. Humans could beat angels, demons and Noise. But against gods? That wouldn't be a contest of skill. The Director apparently couldn't kill Cacophony easily and the Director was the only thing protecting this world from both demons and Noise.

Shophony wasn't a god though. Just hitting him once proved it. He flinched.

However that was short lived enough. In response to further oncoming attacks he summoned up a Noise barrier. Taboo noise appeared. It didn't take three guesses to figure out how to break the barrier. If you erased the Noise he just summoned the barrier would fall. Sho's eyes looked in Beat's direction.

"It's your fault for your siblings death. It's always been your fault. People look at you like you're not to blame, but you know better. You hate the way your sibling looks at you now. Does it not pain you to realize that you are but a shadow of what you once were? That you would go to such great lengths in a futile effort to forgive yourself? You are nothing."

Beat laughed and tried hitting the barrier. He'd heard this before. This guy was dumber than he was. "Don't even bother, Noise man. You got nuthin on me!"

Shophony smiled, "You see? You are once again forgotten. Despite your love for your siblings, you are but his shadow. You have no dreams of your own. You support him as you have always done. Don't you feel jealous? That he has his dreams and you do not? He blames himself for your death? The reason you died, the reason both of you died... was you. Your brother would gladly exchange his life for yours. It was that very same love that made him become a reaper. He would kill his friends for you. He tried to kill his friends for you. You made him do it. You're the reason it happened. He tried to save your life, so in turn you tried to save his? No, I see your heart. You wanted to be erased. Without your dream, you realized that you didn't matter. Nothing you can ever do will matter. You've had the only thing that matters to you taken away. What are you without your dream? He can't forgive you. He will never forgive you, because he won't even acknowledge that it was YOU that caused him to fall."

Beat realized as he tried to break the barrier. With every blow he started to realize. Cacophony wasn't talking to him. He turned his head slowly to see his sister behind him. She was shaking her head and quivering now. "Rhyme..." He said.

The Noise weren't dead yet. There were a lot of them. Kariya looked at Beat, "Yo blondie! Keep your head in the game. He's using your sister to distract you! Take out the Noise and punch him in the face."

Beat tried, but the words shook him. Shophony didn't stop, "That's all you are, a distraction. A distraction that can't move on. Neku? He moved on. Shiki? She moved on. Beat? He's living his dream. They all are, aren't they? The game made them better people. What did it do to you? You know, don't you? The game took away your dream... your identity and showed you how weak you really were. You did nothing. You're unnecessary. They act like you're one of them, but you aren't. They saved Shibuya, not you. You might have been brought back to life, but you're still dying a little every day aren't you? You're punishing yourself for your failure by living in your brother's shadow. You're the one who made him die! You're the one who got erased! You're the one without your dream! You're the one who lost everything!"

Rhyme shook some more. She gripped her psych. A little bell charm. Her hand was squeezing it so hard that it was going to leave a red mark on her palm. Her eyes looked up at Cacophony, she was angry. Beat had never seen her like that before. "Shut up!" She cried as the monster kept talking. She let out a viscous golden sound-wave attack at his barrier. Again and again she attacked his barrier, instead of attacking the Noise. Some of her allies had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" She squeezed her eyes shut and tears became visible. Despite Cacophony's words being aimed at her, everyone felt her pain to some degree. They were having trouble focusing on the task at hand. Seeing your friend in pain actually hurt you. Even people you don't know, seeing other humans in pain makes you want to help them. It's one of the signs that humans are indeed good natured at the base. But Cacophony was using this good nature against them. Noise. That's what he did. He distorted and confused. He brought out the worst in people.

Rhyme was blindly attacking. Her Soul power spiked, but she couldn't aim worth a damn. The moment Sho's barrier went down she was tired and an emotional wreck. Shophany used that speed of his to go right after her. Neku hit him with an ice attack, Shiki used Mr. Mew to side charge him. But Beat? Beat stood between Cacophony and his sister. "Even now you make them weak. Look around you, if you were erased now such a wonderful world it would be. You would be at peace and so would they! The very fact you're alive is a pain to you! I shall take away your pain!"

Shophany's hand got supercharged with crackling gray energy. Then Beat stood in the way, what? Did he think he could even slow him down? Ridiculous. With Sho's body, he was easily faster than her pathetic brother. He side stepped and gripped her by the neck. She didn't put up any resistance. She just cried. She was going to die and she was just going to let it happen. The poor thing didn't care anymore. Cacophony was the Noise god, he could put so much negative energy in you, that you couldn't fight back. He used someone's own personal hardships against them. Rhyme was no different than Thanatos, full of negative energy, just waiting to detonate.

Shophany grinned, he gripped her neck and sent a charge inside of her. It was enough power to erase her. Her brother could try to attack him, if he liked. It wouldn't change a thing. But Beat didn't attack. He turned to his sister and hugged her.

"I love you sis. We all do."

Then the attack went off. The negative energy in her exploded. Instead of just hitting Rhyme it hit Beat too. Effectively both of them got hit by the attack.

"Foolish, even your Negative soul power was added to the attack. Humans have a weakness. Sympathy. By harming one human, I harm all of them. All I need do is make one suffer and you all become weaker. Look to these siblings. What did he hope to accomplish? It was because of this sympathy I was able to destroy two of your champions. Do you not see how this makes you weak?"

Then the smoke cleared. Rhyme was still there. Beat was still hugging her.

"Impossible..."

Neku was there with his hand on Beat's shoulder.

"Why?"

Shiki was there hugging Rhyme as well.

"Why is it you survive?"

Rhyme opened her eyes and hugged them all back, "Thanks guys. I'm really sorry about that."

Shophany's face twisted with anger, "What is this?! All of you should have been destroyed! Your combined Negative energy was more than enough to destroy you!"

Weiss appeared behind him, "You talk about humans coming together as a weakness. It isn't a weakness. It's what makes them strong. It's ok. It took a while for me to understand too."

Shophany didn't drop his outrage, "Their negative energy should have destroyed them. You... the Director! This is your doing isn't it?"

Weiss started launching a dance of shockwaves and let loose a gold colored combo. With every hit the monster became more and more enraged. "I don't have that power. I'm just a human. You hoped to destroy them with their own negative power, but it failed."

Shophany didn't understand, "Only the angels are a match for me."

Weiss commented, "You're wrong. Don't you get it? That's why I bet everything on them. They're a match for you Cacophony. They can beat you at your own game."

Shopany grabbed Weiss by the neck and started pouring in negative power. "Director spawn... I knew you would try to cheat me from my victory. This city is mine! Mine!"

The energy he poured into Weiss was going to kill him. Weiss was turning to static from how much power was being rammed down his throat. Cacophony was going to detonate it, the monster had completely forgotten about the others.

Weiss smiled in the face of death, "Your fight isn't with me, Cacophony. Your fight is with them. If humans are so powerless, why can't you erase them? I'm just as human as the rest of them. The fact they came together and didn't die isn't a miracle. It's just strength. I was a fool not to let them fight you sooner. They've changed... This world is changing. They're fighting you, Cacophony. They're going to keep fighting you."

Cacophony looked towards the humans. All standing together, channeling their psyches into one. "Fusion pins ready." Shiki said. Neku opened his eyes and pact symbols appeared under each one of them.

Cacophony was stunned, "Humans coming together makes them weak. They become animals... they give in to their desires. I've showed you what happens when humans are brought together. I've shown you many times and I'll show you again."

Weiss made one last comment before he passed out, "There's a reason Joshua made them pact together. They're ready for you now."

Before Weiss was destroyed from negative overload Shiki, Beat, Rhyme and Neku hit that monster with their ultimate fusion attack. A reaper skull emblem appeared and sent a blast of light energy at the fallen Sho. The attack hit him dead on. It narrowly missed Weiss and he was grabbed just in time by Nanami. Who gave him a tug at an opportune moment. Kotori was healing Thanatos, he wasn't getting up. Nanami tried healing Weiss, but it'd take a while before he could stand.

They did it. They just hit him with their fusion attack. They all smiled at one another. He took out Thanatos, Weiss and did considerable damage to Neku and the gang.

Neku muttered, "Tough bastard, but we won."

Kariya pointed, "Look again."

Sho was standing up still. His skin was cracking and pulsing with energy. "This body cannot handle my power, but no matter. I'll soon have little need for it." Cacophony was warping Sho into some sort of human Noise hybrid. Noise wings shot out of his back. "You'll find me at the gate to my domain. I'll await you there." Cacophony let out a little laugh, "Erasing me is impossible. I say this not to boast, but as fact. Humans cannot erase me. No matter how much power you can muster. Stay where you are and despair. Or you can follow me. I will wait for you."

The possessed Sho flew into the sky and towards the Pork City tower. Whatever he was going to do was on top of that tower. They had a victory of sorts, but they needed to beat him. They had time to heal up a little and rest. He was too proud to admit he was injured. Humans injured him. These humans he considered worthless. They just proved even gods bleed.

XXX

[Based entirely on the reader's sake. This is a good half point to stop and take a breather. If I were to cut the chapter in half this would be where I'd do it.]

XXX

Joshua had been in better situations. This whole thing was suicide. He was up against a super Noise with his own Composer power. Joshua could only run. The more distance he put between Hirashi and his friends the better their chances. The problem is the more distance he put between himself and his friends the less chances he had of making it through this.

"Joshua!" A beast roared.

Joshua squinted and focused, "He caught up with me already?"

Joshua had been taking so many turns he's not even sure he could have kept up with himself. Hirashi was sensing Joshua pretty well if he was able to follow him. Joshua was remarkably good at staying out of sight. But even so.

He heard the monster getting closer. He was almost there. He looked at his phone and double checked a map function of Shibuya. He had a plan, but he needed to stall a little longer. He tapped his phone a few times and started making junk rain. Pretty much whatever he could manage. Hopefully the junk would slow down the monster chasing him.

Nope.

The damned thing just ran straight through it. Everything that was in his way was bulldozed out of the way. Behind him was the Beast King. Hirashi's noise was an ape. A noise of immeasurable strength. It turned Hirashi's physical power up to eleven. He gave up his instant explosion ability in exchange for speed and power. He picked up a car and flung it at Joshua. Joshua aimed some of his junk to fall on the incoming car, but his junk had no effect. This thing was going so fast it was a missile.

Joshua shifted his weight on his bike and sent it skidding to a halt to avoid being crushed. He hopped off the bike and started legging it. Joshua started running as fast as he could. He was almost there. The beast was bashing and breaking whatever it could. It wanted Joshua. It reminded him every time it spoke, "Joshua!"

The plan? You couldn't really come up with a plan. By all means there was no way for Joshua to come out of this alive. He was up against a complete beast. You couldn't reason with it and you couldn't control it. What was worse was Joshua didn't even have his Composer power. This Noise did. Wait... his Composer power... HIS Composer power.

Joshua stopped running and opened up his senses. With a scan he could sense it now. He could sense the Noise coming towards him. Then he did the unthinkable. He locked on to the Noise in the middle of the scan and invited it to attack.

Some of you might be asking: Wait? You can scan those things?

Yes you can, it's just normally a terrible idea. Because all that negative Soul power could easily drive normal people insane. Joshua wasn't normal. He dug through that negative Soul power and found what he was looking for. He could feel a sliver of his own Composer power. Of course he couldn't take his own power back. But Joshua didn't intend take his Composer power back. He intended to put it to use in Hirashi's own body.

The Beast King Noise was called the king for a reason. It was stronger, faster and more ferocious than any human could be. But that was it's weakness. It's rage. He had no control. To use the power of the Composer you needed control. You needed a human mind and will in order to wield it. Hirashi wasn't really human. He couldn't control such power and he couldn't do anything other than use it as a boost to his own natural power. A real Composer could do things like reshape the world or animate the dead. That's what a real Composer did. This was just a noise with way too damned much power.

"Here I am, beast king." Joshua said walking slowly away from the angry animal.

It charged at him and let out a howl. Typical ape. All speed and power. If the beast got off even one punch it could kill Joshua. Just one would do it. That's why it was so important to move slowly and stay in stance. Joshua wasn't a brawler, he was a scrawny white kid. What Joshua was, was a master of Soul and Imagination.

The beast got within strike distance and swung. Joshua moved as little as possible and simply touched the monstrous Noise. At his lightest touch static went across the Noise. The monster didn't understand. He attacked again. Joshua sidestepped and once again touched the monster just barely. The result was a terrible reaction that caused the monster great pain. The monster didn't and couldn't understand. Joshua didn't have enough strength to hurt him. Joshua was nothing but prey! It needed only to focus and deliver a single blow. It attacked faster and faster. Swing after swing Joshua dodged. Every couple of dodges Joshua found an opening. A single tap to the monster's arm or chest. The Gorilla noise was bigger, faster and should have easily crushed the child. Except Joshua had something this mad beast didn't, control. Rage is what drove the beast. Try staying in control when you're enraged. Doesn't work. He swung too wildly and even if he was faster than Joshua, he didn't get a single hit in. The more Joshua touched him the more the static hurt.

Whatever that static was, it was slowing the monster down. After a howl it just started thrashing around. Joshua knew what to do, GET BACK. Joshua started hopping backwards. He moved as fast as he could away from the thing without actually turning his back. When the Beast King started thrashing there was no way to predict how it would attack. It swung at anything and everything. But it started pounding the ground and the walls. The force from pounding the floor created explosive force. The force only made Joshua jump back further. The beast started thrashing in a berserker rage in Joshua's direction. The static Joshua made still doing him harm. It didn't understand why it was getting weaker now. If Hirashi had been human, it might have been different. He would have noticed that Joshua's Composer power was reacting to Joshua's every touch. Sure Joshua couldn't siphon his power back, but he could use his power to say... backlash. The static that was building up on the Noise wasn't going to stop. It was getting worse and worse. It was a reaction. The shards of Joshua trapped inside the Noise were retaliating. They were destroying him from the inside out. The static built up and exploded.

He hoped it died.

"Joshua." Hirashi's voice said. The smoke cleared. An explosion went off right in front of Joshua.

Hirashi's coat was torn and his pants were full of holes. He looked like bruce banner after changing back from the hulk. "Do not think I will not kill you, do not think I will not choke the life out of you." Hirashi turning human seemed to calm the static inside of him. "Very clever. Using your own soul against me. But it matters not. I have power beyond you. Look at yourself. So near death. So pitiful. What can you do now? But fade away? Own up to your mistakes, Joshua. Admit it! You're just like I am. You're a tyrant and a monster. Do not pretend you're not. You swim in a river of innocent blood you have spilled. You are weighed down by all the lives you have ruined. Indeed you are far worse of a Composer than even I... You killed Kitaniji. You killed Neku. You took a child away from his mother. Your game took away what matters most to humans. You've brought an end to countless souls, reapers and humans. But worse still... you pointed your own power at Shibuya itself! Even for a Noise... that's unthinkable. You're a monster, Joshua. It's time you died like one."

Joshua got hit by that explosion and he tried to get up, he couldn't. Joshua listened to Hirashi talk and knew who was really talking. "Everything is true, except one thing."

Hirashi pointed his palm at Joshua. One more explosion would do the trick. Then he'd die. He was helpless now. He didn't even have his phone. He was helpless.

"So now you embrace the truth? What have I said that isn't true? You mean to tell me that you aren't a monster? That you didn't do those things? What was untrue?"

Joshua smirked, "I'm not going to die like a monster. I'll die how I choose to die. You should have your vengeance now. I owe you that much."

Hirashi's face twisted with a look of sadness and joy. "Just like that? You give up? You admit it's all true? I thought this truth would break you, Joshua. But it seems it has not... No matter... I will have to do it."

He pointed his palm at Joshua. Then Joshua said something, "I thought you said you were going to choke me? I thought you were going to break my bones? If you're going to have your vengeance. You'd best enjoy yourself. Of course if killing me quickly is your choice, then so be it."

Hirashi's noise seal on his face started glowing. "No! Yes! No! Of course! I can't! I will! YES! I WILL KILL YOU SLOWLY! I don't give a damn about what the Noise want! I want to kill you Joshua! I will force you to endure pain!" The Noise wanted him to just kill Joshua. But the Echo was flatly disobeying. He walked up to Joshua. The closer he got the greater his Noise seal glowed. The more the Noise told him _KILL HIM NOW! _He didn't care. He was going to crush Joshua's neck. He wasn't even going to resist. He tilted his head so Hirashi could get a good grip.

His hand slowly went to Joshua's neck. His fingers wrapped around Joshua's neck. Then before he could squeeze something happened.

Slice!

Joshua didn't move. Not an inch, he didn't do a damned thing. But Hirashi's hand fell off of his wrist. Hirashi didn't understand. What was this? How did Joshua?

Joshua smiled then turned his eyes to his savior. The Agent holding an holy blade between Hirashi and Joshua. The Agent looked up at Hirashi, "In accordance with the Director's law. I will state your offense and your punishment."

Hirashi didn't get it. What was this?

Joshua smirked and pointed at the floor. Hirashi didn't see it. What? What was so important about that spot?! There was no reason Agent should have interfered.

Agent revealed, "Echoes are bound to a territory. If an Echo leaves their territory, they will suffer a penalty." This kept Echoes from running out of Shibuya so players couldn't erase them. Players had 1 day to erase the Echoes. If Echoes could go wherever they wanted, then the game would be impossible for players. So they're all restricted to certain territories.

Hirashi remembered the rules. Then he realized what Joshua was doing. He wasn't running from Hirashi to just avoid being killed. He was leading him out of bounds! Joshua lead Hirashi here so he'd break one of the Angel's rules.

Joshua smirked. If Hirashi had just used his blast when he had the chance, he would have killed Joshua. But he didn't. He reached over the out of bounds to strangle Joshua. Agent cut his hand off.

The Agent's wings were shining and his eyes were burning. Angels actually looked kind of scarey when they were mad. "The penalty for crossing the boundary is one minute."

Hirashi's arm had static instead of blood or guts. No gore to see, but he placed a hand over the stump as if it were bleeding. "One minute? Of what?"

The Agent's eyes narrowed. "You will fight me. For one minute. That is the penalty. Joshua, remain inside your barrier until one minute is up. When it is over you are free to continue your battle."

Joshua was just laying on the ground. It's not like he could do anything.

Hirashi just scoffed, "An angel? I have to fight an angel?! That's laughable! A mere angel is no match for the power of a Composer."

The Agent seemed satisfied. "Do you know why that is? Noise?"

Hirashi didn't seem to care, "It doesn't matter why!"

The Agent corrected him. He was just as smug if not smugger than Joshua, "Oh Hirashi, you pitiful creature. Humans are the most spiritually resilient beings in existence. It takes a flood of Noise for them to even notice their presence. Spiritual attacks are ineffective against humans. What makes a Composer so powerful is that they wield the combined power of their territory. They have more power than any normal angel, true. But the reason they are so dangerous is that they are a living human. Spiritual attacks are weakened by a factor of 10. A human lacks the spiritual power to match an angel. Demons and angels view humans as powerless. Their Soul power is so pitiful they couldn't harm an angel. A Composer can match our power... and is nearly immune to our spiritual attacks. To kill a Composer we have to bring them to a plane outside of their territory."

Hirashi smirked, "You admit it yourself! You could not defeat a Composer!"

The Agent fought back the urge to laugh. "You're not human, Hirashi. Even if you were you wouldn't be the real Composer. You're just a Noise with the fragments of a real Composer."

Hirashi growled and pointed his palm towards the Agent. "Well? Begin!"

The Agent readied his weapon and shut his eyes, "As you wish." A timer appeared on the Agent's hand. Sixty seconds.

It might had been because Hirashi had never fought an angel before. It might have been that Hirashi was weakened from his chase with Joshua. It might have been just that the Agent was an officer class angel with arguably more power than he had. But it was a complete ass stomping.

Hirashi opened up by launching explosions. Hirashi must not have put in enough effort because it didn't even slow the angel down. His eyes burned and he saw all the attacks coming before he did them. It wasn't anything like magic or intuition. The Agent just knew where the explosions would be just by where Hirashi pointed his hands. Joshua could do the same thing, but the Agent was fast enough to dodge them moving TOWARD Hirashi.

The Agent closed in and started lashing with his sword. Each cut set off a holy explosion and left a static wound in Hirashi. Hirashi used both hands to create an explosion around himself. The Agent took to the air and just started calling down holy pillars from the sky. Each one not as damaging as a sword slash, but it hurt enough to send holy power down into those wounds of his.

Hirashi wasn't going to last in his human form, so he went full Noise form. He only had to survive for 60 seconds. He didn't have to kill this angel. That's all. He started jumping around and flinging bits of building and signs at the angel. Just a minute ago he was chasing Joshua, now something was chasing him. That fits the definition of irony doesn't it?

The beast managed to buy some time, but he slammed into a barrier wall as he fled. Apparently the angel was allowed to use barriers to keep him from escaping. When he couldn't go through the barrier he went berserk and started thrashing around. Every punch created an explosion and sent rubble flying. The Agent sent golden pillars of light crashing down on him and closed in to cut him with his sword.

Angels have been alive for thousands of years. With a thousand plus years of combat experience. Dodging physical blows like Joshua did was easy. Except unlike Joshua, he had to do more than touch Hirashi. Second after second went by he got a slice in whenever the beast left an opening. Hirashi jumped away but got cut. Every time he hit the floor to jump further away he got cut. Every moment he thought he couldn't get slashed with a sword he got hit with light pillars. The Noise seal on the monsters face started glowing and he let out a yell of nothing but negative energy. To a human it would just hurt their ears. To an Angel it was an attack. Humans were resistant, angels weren't. It slowed the Agent down a little but he flapped his wings and ignored the scream. He silenced the beast by flinging his sword into Hirashi's throat.

The Agent took both hands and started making a praying gesture with his hands. If anyone saw full metal alchemist, the clapped hands together motion was a prelude to doing something amazing. He flew towards Hirashi dive bombing with both hands together. Then as he separated his hands there was a white sphere of energy between his hands. He slammed that sphere into Hirashi's chest. If anyone saw Naruto it looked like someone getting hit with a Rasengan. If you didn't see Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist you probably need to catch up on your anime. The sphere exploded into pure white. Joshua couldn't see. Hirashi was almost dead. The Agent pulled his sword out of Hirashi's throat and let loose one last devastating combo before his timer expired. He flung a single spell towards Joshua right before his timer hit 0. "Get up."

The Agent flew in the air just watching Hirashi, "If you step out of bounds again you will receive another minute." As if Hirashi would even try.

Joshua still wasn't in great shape, but he knew a heal spell when he felt one. This one was pretty strong. It repaired his Soul energy and his exhaustion. Not completely of course. But enough to matter. He struggled to his feet. He got a good look at Hirashi. He was covered in static and barely holding himself together. "I will not die... I will not die to an angel."

Hirashi might have been in bad shape, but he still had more than enough strength to finish off a mere human. "This is the end, Joshua. You will die here. You will cause no more pain... no more pain!" Hirashi turned his body expecting Joshua to try to run away. Joshua wasn't running away. Joshua was running TOWARD him. The explosion went off. Hitting Joshua right in the chest. He skidded back then started walking forward. With his phone in hand and a glare on his face he walked towards Hirashi. That explosion should have killed him. Hirashi didn't care. He reached forward and grabbed Joshua by the neck. "I will choke the life out of you... and you will die like the monster you are."

Joshua was beaten, but he didn't look beaten. He had in his hand his cell phone. He must have picked it up on the way. He squeezed the open phone and the screen on the top of the phone started glowing. It glowed more and more as Joshua's throat was crushed. Hirashi squeezed harder with the hand he still had. He remembered now. This is how he died last time. This is exactly how he died last time. He was holding Joshua by the neck, just like this.

"No..."

Joshua plunged his cell phone into Hirashi. His glowing phone went into Hirashi like a dagger. With a twist Hirashi let out a grunt. "This changes nothing... you're a monster Joshua."

Joshua felt the grip loosen enough for him to talk. "I may be a monster. But Shibuya needs a monster. I'll be as cruel or evil as I have to be. As long as I draw breath, I will protect this place. I'll protect Shibuya from humans, Noise and even angels." Joshua said into Hirashi's ear. Then he twisted the phone like a knife and pulled it out.

Hirashi fell to his knees and felt his life draining from him. "My regret was that I left behind no legacy." Hirashi said with his noise seal fading from his face. "I was jealous of you... That you... a boy... could do what I could not. You left behind a legacy. Protect your legacy Joshua. Never stop protecting your legacy." Hirashi didn't fade away quietly. He let out a yell and power shot out in all directions towards the sky.

Joshua just stood there. He felt all of it. All that negative energy. He understood. Joshua looked at his phone's screen. It was bloody. It was probably blood from his own wounded arm, but thematically it was Hirashi's. Blood on his phone signified much. He flicked the phone to fling the blood off. The screen of the phone was a map of Shibuya. It showed him Hirashi's boundary line. That's how he knew. The phone Hanekoma gave him all those years ago continued to serve him. "It's funny... how Echoes reveal their true selves upon death. I will protect my legacy... I'll do whatever I have to in order to do it..."

The Agent watched now. He saw Joshua and realized now. Joshua indeed had remorse about the things he had done. He never said sorry or apologized. But He felt remorse. For a split second the Agent might have felt a second of admiration for Joshua. For how he pulled through. But he couldn't admire him long. He hated Joshua. He hated how Joshua gambled everything on victory. Despite the gambles. He won this round. Let's hope it was worth the risk.

Joshua just stood silently for a moment. He closed his eyes and waited. He was done. He did the unthinkable. Hirashi was dead. One Echo remained.

XXX

Following Sho was normally hard. Following Sho possessed by Cacophony was harder. He had Noise wings that allowed flight. Anyone could see where he was flying to: Pork City.

"The Agent said that the Echo of Taboo could summon Noise right?" Eri asked the group while they ran.

Thanatos was being carried by Kariya. Kariya frowned, "That's what the angel man said. I'm surprised we haven't fought an army of them."

Shiki sounded hopeful, "Maybe we won't have to fight any of them."

Weiss pointed out, "Put yourself in the enemy's mind. There's no way he wouldn't sick Noise on us."

Uzuki suggested, "Maybe he's too wounded to summon Noise?"

Eri had a bad feeling, "Didn't you sense the presence inside Sho? Whatever is controlling him is the one controlling Noise. Even if Sho is weak, I think that thing inside Sho is still going to send Noise our way.

Shiki didn't want her to be right, but Eri had a point, "Eri's right. Whatever was controlling Sho is the real enemy here. That thing is definitely going to send Noise our way."

Neku looked up at Pork City and recalled how wicked that monster was. It could read all negative emotion instantly. It knew just how to hurt people. It knew exactly what to say to cause pain. It could cloud the mind. "Cacophony. That's who we're fighting. Remember that name and remember who we're fighting. He can use our emotions against us. I know it's hard for me to say this, but don't listen to a word he says. Don't try to reason with it or act like you can handle it. Just drown out his words as best you can. The less you hear him talk the better."

Beat shook a little. The bastard really got to him earlier. "Yeah... Neku's right. It don't matter how smart you are or dumb you are. He fills you up full of Negative power then he breaks you down with words. Even if you know what he's saying isn't true... it still hurts."

He was carrying Rhyme. She wasn't in good shape. Cacophony took her and Thanatos out. Rhyme wasn't seriously hurt, but she was sleeping and her soul was slowly purging out all the negative energy Cacophony put in her.

Shuto let out a warning, "Whoa! Whoa! Whooaaa!" He dived out of the way of a blast.

Neku was the most intense right now. "They're coming!" He raised up a wall of black fire ahead to stop an incoming flock of Noise.

Kariya kept carrying Thanatos, "Looks like he summoned a lot of Noise."

Shooter put a ton of Soul into his tin pin launcher, "Then we'll blow them away!"

Shooter fired a pin that exploded worse than any grenade. It sprayed needles at every Noise and they all roared in pain. The problem was these weren't the usual Noise. They were, as expected... Taboo. They took significantly less damage unless players were partnered and passed their energy to one another. Neku barked orders, "Partner up! All of you!"

Shiki partnered with Neku.

Kariya partnered with Uzuki.

Weiss partnered with Nanami.

Beat partnered with Rhyme. Even though she was out cold, he could protect his sister. Hell she was even waking up almost as soon as the danger started.

Then came the less obvious pairings. Eri looked around to see who she could be paired with. Her choices were Shuto dan or an unconscious guy with suicidal tendencies.

Eri picked Thanatos.

Shuto was irritated, "Who do I get to partner with?"

Kotori appeared next to him, "Do you know how to pass the puck?"

Shuto fired his launcher and asked flatly, "What's a puck?"

Kotori rolled her eyes and partnered with him. It's not like she had a choice. Kotori looked at Neku, "Take Shiki and kill Minamimoto. The Noise won't stop coming as long as he draws breath."

Neku agreed and Shiki couldn't argue. They both rushed past the Noise heading straight for the tower. They'd need backup. It'd take more than two people to handle Sho.

Weiss and Nanami rushed in after them. Nanami apologized, "Sorry! But someone needs to help them!"

Kariya dropped Thanatos on the ground and kicked him a little, "Wake up or die."

Thanatos muttered, "Seriously people keep forgetting that's a threat for me."

Eri came up to him, "Please live. Please? I'm partnered with you."

Thanatos took a good look at the red head. She wore red and he wore blue. Kinda had a little ying yang thing going on. "You're lucky you're hot." He said as he got up. "So we fight all the Noise down here we can?"

Kotori nodded and grouped up, "Take out as many as you can. If we finish the Noise here, we can go help upstairs."

Shooter was already working on it, "Tin pin... SLAM!" He punched an Noise with his Tin Pin launcher and it literally exploded into fireworks. No. Not an explosion, fireworks. He unwittingly passed the puck.

Beat helped his sister to her feet. "We definitely got this."

No sooner had he spoken the words when a giant Taboo Noise dragon dive bombed out of the sky. It was Zero. The mega Noise Sho made back in Week 2. Apparently it wasn't dead. That thing was able to take on groups of experienced players. What's worse was it had an army of Noise behind it.

Kariya rolled his eyes, "Well... nevermind we're screwed."

XXX

There was quiet. But only for a little while. The elevator ride was long it moved slower than usual. But at least it was still moving. While they went up the elevator there was time to talk. One of the rare moments where you could talk.

"Weiss." Neku started. "This game changed you didn't it?"

Weiss couldn't really disagree, "Pacting with someone and experiencing their hardships always changes you. The first day I was in the game I was laughing at players dying. I hated them. I hated Shibuya and the people in it. Shibuya is a place of clashing. Views clashing against one another constantly. Part of the Director's soul is what made me feel that hatred. I could have been here for another 6 years and I would have wished it destroyed... and yet... within 6 days. I questioned Shibuya's value."

Neku kind of understood, "I never liked Shibuya either. I wanted people to shut up, go away and leave me the hell alone."

Weiss continued, "Similar. But the cure was the same. Isolation is what breeds hatred. Watching from a distance is not truly experiencing. Once I started listening to Nanami and feeling as she felt through the pact. Even I started changing. When I was a sociopath and wanted to let players die so that we could leave. She went outside. She inspired the other players to go with her. Logically... It didn't make any sense."

Nanami remembered that, "You came out too. You saved my life."

Weiss chuckled, "I thought failed the mission."

Nanami put it simply, "I thought you were going to let me die."

Weiss shook his head, "I started feeling as Nanami felt... then I started changing."

Neku recalled, "Shiki and I had experiences of our own. I always thought of myself as the worst person to give advice. But when I saw Shiki so broken up about her price... I think that was the turning point. I didn't want to see her that broken ever again."

Weiss smiled and looked up, "If we all make it through this. I'd like to take you up on your offer to be friends. I don't know if I could stay. Once this game is over, who knows what will happen to me? The Director could ask me to go somewhere else or maybe just absorb me again. Somehow... that thought scares me. The though of dying never scared me before... But now... I want to live. I guess I'm more human than I thought."

Nanami eyed him, "I told you so, didn't I?"

Weiss smiled, "I didn't believe you at the time... but you were right. Thank you Nanami. Thank you for everything."

Shiki confessed, "Joshua actually made a good game."

They all looked at her.

"By taking what's most important to someone... it teaches them what matters most in their lives. By working together with a partner. It teaches you to make bonds or die. Obviously his game couldn't have many winners. There's a limit to how many people Joshua could bring back to life. But the ones who do come back... they live better then they ever did in life."

They all thought about it. Nanami agreed, "It's true. When you come back... you just feel empowered. All the regrets or worries I had about living were gone."

Weiss had to chuckle, "Joshua... you game can change even the Director. I won't say the game is perfect, but... It more than serves it's purpose. It rids Shibuya of lost souls that cannot be put to rest. It destroys Noise by having Reapers use them to erase players. It's actually brilliant in a way. But it's also sick."

Shiki told them what she thought, "I thought this game itself is much like Joshua's soul. Brilliant, everyone is your competition, everyone is your enemy except for one partner... and you're separated from the rest of the world."

Neku admitted it, "That is Joshua... There was only one person he could trust. Hanekoma. Everyone else was out to get him."

Weiss kinda felt it was sad, "When this is over, try to find the strength to forgive him."

Neku looked up at what floor he was on. They was almost there, "Joshua and I... we are friends. I'd never admit it to his face and he'd hide behind sarcasm. But we have each other's back. He annoys the hell out of me. But I still thought we were friends... But after hearing what he did with Shiki and my mom... I don't think I can forgive him. I don't think could ever forgive him."

Shiki snuggled up to her husband, "I won't ask you to forgive him, but at least try to understand."

Neku might have been mad if anyone but Shiki told him to do that, "I think I understand. In the end... I got everything back. My mom and my wife. I understand why he made himself look like the bad guy, but I can't forgive him. Not yet."

Nanami confessed, "Honestly... I think even he would know you wouldn't. After Hanekoma's died. He did something that permanently scared you. He knew what he did and he knew what it meant. I don't blame you. I couldn't have forgiven him either."

Weiss looked up and smiled, "Could you at the very least talk to him when this is all over?"

Neku nodded, "I could do that."

Weiss heard the elevator ding. They were at their destination. "We're here."

XXX

At the top of the tower stood the most bizarre of sights. There bits of junk and scratches everywhere. Junk and rubble were floating midair floating as if they were in outer space. A wide array of colors surrounded them. It was actually like an aurora of colors surrounded them. On the top of the tower was the impossible miss Noise seal etched into the concrete. What sort of abomination was this?

No sign of Sho Minamimoto, but there were Noise as countless as the starts.

Weiss felt sick, "There shouldn't be this many Noise here."

Shiki pointed, "Look!"

The Noise seal activated. It let out a glow and a howl of painful sound.

The sound could be heard all across the city. The screech signaled all Noise to obey. The little tattoos came together and gathered together. Metal and stone from every source started being ripped from the buildings they were attached to. All together the junk and bits of stone smashed at a single point. The Noise merged with the junk and the stone. The noise became a sort of flesh that was the matrix between the bits of metal and stone. Poles, parts, rocks, trash and everything that wasn't (or was) nailed to the floor started to float towards the seal like gravity pulled them together.

It was a giant Noise made from all the junk of Shibuya: The Heap.

Neku glared, "What the hell is that thing supposed to be?!"

Nanami wanted to step back, but they were all backed against the elevator door. "Is that?... A Noise?"

Weiss nodded, "Yeah... It's repulsive."

Neku didn't have time for this crap, "Where is Sho?!"

Nanami pointed at the top of the junk heap, "Umm... guys." They looked at what she pointed at. It took a second to see, but on top of that giant blob of junk was Sho's hat.

Neku felt his eyes widen, "No... damned... way."

Shiki looked, "That thing? Is that Sho?!"

Neku shook his head, "There's no way I'm going to believe that that thing could possibly be-"

The Noise bellowed out a mangled up bit of English. It sounded distorted and bordered on complete jibberish. "Sohhhooo Zeeeeeehhh Taaahhh Sloooaawwww."

Neku, Shiki, Nanami and Weiss all felt their eyes cross at the same time. Then they said in annoyed unison, "That's Sho."

It was Sho's Noise 'form'. Cacophony must have thought Sho was too injured to be of any practical use. So this ritual gathered a ton of Noise and merged them into one amalgamation of junk.

The Heap. A combination of both Noise and Shibuya's junk.

"How do we kill it?" Nanami asked.

Shiki and Neku answered her question. Shiki and Neku merged their soul power and the result was astounding. Mr. Mew shot out giant lasers from the eyes and grew in size as he did. Neku hovered off the ground and set darklit fire at the monster. Weiss and Nanami took their lead. Weiss jumped back and summoned up his Finger of God pin. The wind carried the darklit fire around creating a flame tornado.

A tornado of black fire and lasers shooting through it. It looked pretty cool.

Nanami joined in. She opened her book and the pages scattered around her. All of her notebook pages danced around and each fired a single laser towards the giant junk ball.

Well what they lacked in size they made up for in firepower. The Heap just stood there a moment absorbing the attacks. It made no cry of pain. It didn't move and it didn't react. It took the attacks quietly and didn't respond. That was no a good sign.

"Is it working?" Weiss asked.

Neku smirked, "Yeah. That thing may be big, but it's starting to break apart. The Noise in that junk monster are just as vulnerable as they normally are."

It was true Noise were being erased. The more that were erased the more bits of junk fell off. So from what it looked like. The way to defeat it was to kill all the Noise inside of it and make it fall apart.

The problem was this: as it fell apart. It started releasing Taboo Noise. That was it's game! It wasn't avoiding being hit because it wouldn't do any damage. It WANTED to be hit. The more damage you did to the Heap, The more Taboo Noise would attack.

Neku halted his flame attack, "Stop attacking!"

They all stopped. As pieces of the Heap fell of it would spawn Taboo Noise. They hit it enough. If they attacked any more then they might risk being swarmed by more than they could handle. Holy crap! The Heap wasn't their enemy. He was the source of the Noise they had to fight.

Weiss understood now, "Neku's right! He's using Sho's Soul as a catalyst to summon massive amounts of Taboo Noise! Hit it as little as possible, but with your most powerful attacks."

Every hit summoned a Taboo Noise. That was the secret. They just had to hit it really hard with a super powerful attack. Nanami guessed, "A fusion pin?"

Neku smirked, "Seems that way. My wife and I haven't got to team up against ordinary Noise for a while. But I'll bet you anything our fusion attack is stronger."

Nanami felt challenged, "Weiss and I have a really really strong fusion attack! You'll see!"

Weiss chuckled, "You're cute when you're competitive."

Nanami shifted her body to face Taboo Noise. The pages around her fluttered and danced. Instead of using a pen she just shot energy blasts out of those individual pages. Apparently the fight with Ichigo gave her a permanent boost of power instead of crippling her. "Weiss focus!"

Weiss sent a golden pillar of light crashing down and started using shockwaves on the Taboo Noise, "Actually you're cute all of the time. Even when you're frustrated."

Shiki giggled, "Is that why you keep teasing her?" Shiki expertly kept the Noise from hitting herself and her husband. Neku attacked with liquid metal orbs that bound the Noise from moving. Then he sent fire at the metal creating a molten metal petal that the larger Noise couldn't pass.

Weiss nodded as he used his rush pin to tackle a Noise off the tower, "She's cute when she's frustrated. That would explain why I frustrate her so much wouldn't it?"

Nanami shook her head and brought the pages together. She took her notebook cover and clapped it over the pages. Her psych had two modes now. Notebook or page mode. Notebook let he build up fusion power faster by finishing pictures. The pages were more damaging but didn't build up fusion power as fast. Also her notebook was more defensive in general. She could block with her notebook, but the pages let her blow enemies and attacks back. "You frustrate me less than you'd think. Come on, build up fusion power!"

Weiss agreed, "As you wish, ma'am." He set off a twister the sucked more Noise off the ledge falling to their doom.

Neku chuckled at the two, "So Weiss, are you going to ask her out? See where it leads?" He knocked a rhino noise into the air with ice and used a single plasma shot to make it come crashing on other Noise.

Shiki didn't have to do anything half as elegant. Mr. Mew made copies of itself and effectively went mighty mouse on much larger Taboo Noise. All the Mr. Mews zipped around punching and kicking like they belonged in a martial arts movie.

The Taboo Noise were getting stomped. It was quickly turning into a contest of who could kill Noise in the most stylish manner possible.

That's when the Heap ever so slightly decided to change things. It started attacking and not in a half assed manner. Junk that swirled around it and floated started spinning. They orbited around the Heap like a saturn ring. But they were speeding up. Speeding up to the point where being hit by one could send you flying off a 13 floor building.

Obviously they couldn't let that happen. The more junk it had the more it had to fling at them. "We have to damage this thing so it loses pieces of junk!" Weiss said dodging the pieces of garbage. He let down a pillar of light. The Heap had a visible core. A sphere with a Taboo Noise symbol. If Sho were anywhere he'd be in the center of that sphere. The sphere wasn't easy to hit. There was a ton of junk that functioned as armor. The Heap could attack with the junk parts, but that was when it was most vulnerable. So hitting him now would be the way to go.

Nanami didn't bother blocking the flying pieces of junk. Even if she blocked it would just send her flying off the building to her doom. So she gave up the notepad and switched to her full offensive mode. Her notebook once again became fluttering pages. Each capable of sending bolts and beams of white energy right at the Heap's core. Rather than firing them in rapid succession. She fired them all at once combining all the blasts into one. The Heap was tricky. Every time you hit it, it summoned a Taboo Noise. So you wanted to hit it as hard as you could and as little as possible.

Neku didn't seem to be aiming for the core. He scooped up his wife in his arms and he started zipping around at speeds that would make gazelles feel like amateurs. The bulk of the junk was aimed at Shiki since she was the slowest and had an extremely powerful Psych. Obviously she'd normally be the easiest target. Well Neku might have moved a little slower holding on to wife, but it didn't slow him down much. He easily avoided the garbage barrage. Shiki didn't just helplessly lay in his arms either. She closed her eyes and put her full focus on Mr. Mew. It turned into Catzilla and tackled it's way through the junk. It served two purposes. It helped everyone avoid getting hit by flying trash pieces and it charged straight in to deliver an explosive punch to the Heap's core. The Noise sphere was it's weak point. But every hit spawned a Noise. However it was more than worth the risk of fighting more Noise. While the core was exposed it was going to take the most damage.

The Heap recalled all of the junk. Which in itself served as an attack. Then due to the damage it took pieces of junk fell harmlessly off. They were making progress. It was losing a huge portion of its garbage armor. Once it ran out, they'd be able to easily take that thing out.

Neku put Shiki down. She probably didn't HAVE to kiss him, but she did. They had time to kiss before they had to dodge... barely. They separated just in time to avoid being smacked by a Noise. Neku sent energy bolts and Shiki sent Mr. Mew. Together they obliterated the attacking Noise.

Weiss smiled at their teamwork. Their bond and souls were in sync. They didn't even have to talk. The Sync rate was perfect. Shiki and Neku were partners every sense of the word. It was kinda inspiring to watch them fight. Weiss could feel their fusion power building up. His sync rate with Nanami wasn't as good, no. But a sync rate like theirs took time. Years even.

Nanami switched back to her notebook to deal with Noise. It helped build up fusion faster if she completed pictures. If they were going to finish off this monster, it'd probably take a fusion attack. They were getting close. Almost there. Just a little more.

The Heap let out a moan, "This world is garbage!"

The junk that surrounded the Heap fired out in all directions. Normally the spinning junk was hard to dodge, but firing all the junk in a shotgun manner in the direction of the heroes was impossible.

Nanami held out her notebook to block. Weiss used an rush pin to try to soften the blow. Shiki blocked with Mr. Mew and Neku formed a darklit barrier around himself. The attack was fierce. It sent Weiss crashing into the floor and Nanami took serious damage as well. Neku was just tired from holding the attack off. Shiki put an enormous amount of effort into keeping Mr. Mew from being torn apart.

It spawned Noise just in time to hit them while they were weak. The Noise came in to attack. Weiss was too weak to stop them and Nanami was too. They both took hits from Taboo Noise and tried to draw enough energy to counter.

Neku and Shiki were in no position to save them. They were trying to to. But they were tried and had their own Noise trying to kill them. Weiss didn't have a single means to block that last attack. He couldn't move. The Noise paused a moment as if to mock him. Then they came in for the kill. He tried to use a psych, but he couldn't move his arms to focus. He tried to manage a heal, but it barely did anything. Maybe if he had like a dozen seconds to try again his next heal would be much better. But he didn't have 2 seconds.

That's when Nanami got in the way of the attack and stopped it with her notebook. She skidded back slightly and fell to her knees. She got a good look at Weiss. Then she smirked at him. "I owed you for saving my life back then."

Weiss rolled his eyes, "No you didn't."

Nanami chuckled as Noise surrounded them. It was the same as before with Okami. "We're about to be erased. Just as before."

Weiss tried to muster up some strength to stand. He couldn't get up. He barely managed to sit up before Noise surrounded them. Yeah he was about to get eaten, huh? All it took was one attack from that Heap to do this? Yeah sure it was a sucker for punishment, but it managed to nearly kill them even while blocking. It was kinda lame.

That's when Nanami managed to lean in and kiss Weiss again. "Thank you."

Weiss managed one last joke, "What is it with you and 'thank you' kisses. You make me feel lame."

The Noise came in for the kill. But something blew them all back. The Noise all got blasted away.

Standing at the top of the tower was Kotori, Kariya and Uzuki. "Enter the amazing Reaper officers. I'm the least attractive of the group."

Uzuki sent a huge blast towards Neku and Shiki, "I better get promoted for this."

The blast gave Neku and Shiki a necessary breather. True, they probably wouldn't have died, but it was welcome help all the same.

Weiss got healed by Kotori. She said to him, "Finish it."

Weiss had enough power to do it now. He looked at Nanami, "You do the honors." He offered the fusion pin in his hand. She looked at him and clapped her hand on it. The fusion attack activated.

Their Soul power merged and the blue light similar to the pact went off. Nanami held up her notebook and the pages glowed with white light. The light pulsed outward and sucked all the Noise in. Now they were at her mercy. She unleashed a barrage of pen strikes. Taboo were powerful Noise, but they were no match for an ultimate fusion. When she finished slicing them up with her pen, she pointed the book at the Heap. All the power built up in her notebook fired outward and blasted the Noise core.

Shiki and Neku did something similar, "Up for it?" He held up the fusion pin.

Shiki answered, "What do you think?" Neku tapped it and Shiki threw Mr. Mew into the sky as high as she could. It got pretty high up there before her fusion activated.

Mr. Mew turned into Godzilla. While it was in the air it fired those massive eye beams right at the Noise core of the Heap. The eye beams didn't stop it from falling. The giant cat fell while it fired giant eye beams. It fell faster and faster. Mr. Mew pulled its cat fist back and used all the speed it gained from falling. It sent the giant cat paw crashing into the Noise core. The force caused Pork city tower to crack. The whole building started falling apart. Static went off and the damage was too great. The Heap had enough. All of the Taboo Noise let out a howl. The Noise core crackled a moment. It couldn't hold itself together. It tried sucking up all the Taboo Noise in the city to keep itself together, but it couldn't. It was too unstable now. It was going to blow.

Kotori took the moment to pick up Weiss and Nanami. "Sho! Wake up! If you're even a small fraction of who I think you are, you'll fight this thing! You don't let anything control you! Not even the Noise!"

XXX

Inside Sho's head everything was rumbling. Sho still lay attached to some T shaped cross made from junk. He was pinned and barely conscious. Then he heard some words. It was Kotori's voice. He couldn't hear anything a moment ago. His insides were crumbling. His mind was lost to the Noise.

Cacophony worked to keep the mind together. His back was turned from Sho. "It seems she does not know you. You are mine now. You can be controlled like any other human. No spirit is indomitable."

Sho slowly opened his eyes. He was regaining consciousness. "This... This is my world."

Cacophony turned to Sho. "I have no time to waste upon you, human. I shall finish this game with or without your help."

Cacophony pointed a hand at Sho. A single finger pierced his stomach and shocked him. "Submit human and all pain will subside."

Sho took the shock, but didn't shut his eyes. "I'm so zetta slow..." He said starting to laugh. He laughed a little louder and then even louder. "This is my world! This is my mind!"

Cacophony put more effort into shocking him. But it was pointless now. Sho somehow pulled unimaginable strength out of nothingness. "Any reaper can defy a composer, but I'll defy EVERYTHING!" He let out a yell and prepared a focused lvl I flare. The explosion was aimed at Cacophony. The monster seemed to watch with disbelief as Sho Minamimoto would rather destroy his own mind than be ruled by a monster.

"If you use that technique you will die."

Sho didn't care, "Rot in hell with all the other digits."

Cacophony drew back his finger, "So be it... If I cannot use you, then I shall use the Noise. Take your freedom human."

Sho felt Cacophony break his bindings. It grabbed Sho by the neck and flung him towards the floor. Sho instead of hitting the ground fell through the ground. He wasn't in a real world, he was in his own mind. He fell into an endless void and started to feel himself again. He was free!

XXX

The Heap exploded. When it did Sho Minamimoto came flying out. For whatever reason Sho got spat out from the blob of Noise energy. The explosion caused the Pork City tower to fall. Neku grabbed Shiki and jumped off. Kariya grabbed Weiss and Uzuki grabbed Nanami. They jumped off. Kotori caught Sho Minamimoto as he was spit out of the Noise monster.

The Pork City tower fell. Nanami and Weiss were out cold. The Taboo Noise were gone. Sho Minamimoto was released from Cacophony. It looked like a sound victory.

Everything was rubble. The building was gone and the sky turned dark. "You do it?" Beat asked after a cough. The building falling made it hard to see. The explosion didn't do any damage to the players, but it looked like a nuke went off. There was a crater where the Pork City tower was.

Neku coughed and looked around, "Think so." He checked his phone. Apparently the mission was still on. Maybe it'd update in a second.

Then the dust cleared. But everyone held their breath. It had to be over, right?

Kotori looked at Sho, he was still alive. "Conductor. Sir? Are you yourself?"

Sho lazily opened his eyes with irritation. No Noise seals on his eyes. "What the factor do you want?"

Kotori smirked, "Welcome back sir."

Sho pushed her and got up. "Formality is garbage. What's the status of the enemy?"

Kariya answered apparently the reapers were treating him like he was Conductor again, "Believed dead, but not confirmed."

Sho turned his attention towards the crater. Then his eyes narrowed, "No... Do the math. It's not over. We're at the final part of the equation. He's going to try to get rid of the remainders." He looked at the helpless Weiss and Nanami. Neku and Shiki were tired after a fusion attack. Hell everyone was weak now. It would have been the perfect opportunity to strike. "It may have divided me from itself, but it's still there."

Everyone turned their attention to where Sho pointed. Standing at the bottom of the crater was Leo Cantus. Cacophony didn't have any Echoes left. They had to fight Sho's Noise form. They had to fight all Echoes as a Noise form. This was no exception.

"I yet remain." It said.

Beat was annoyed, "Oh COME ON! This guy ain't dead yet! How long we been fightin dis guy?!"

Leo Cantus seemed amused by the comment, "Do you not what I am? You have been fighting me since before you drew breath. Did you think a simple play of psyches could end me? Did you believe that any power you gather had even the slightest chance of ending me? No... Even in this insignificant form I am beyond you."

Rhyme noticed Sho then she noticed Leo Cantus standing down there in the crater. "Wait... How is this possible. Sho Minamimoto is right there. Did the Noise separate him somehow."

Leo Cantus seemed to hear her despite the fact she was asking in a whisper, "Oh child. What do you believe me to be? I am nothing so simple as human's Noise. I am the one who brought back the erased to fight as my proxy. I am the one you fight and continue to fight. Do you understand child? That man? I do not need him. He does not hear my voice, so I separated him from his own Noise."

Neku pointed at Leo Cantus, "That's Cacophony. He's using Sho's Noise so he can fight! We can still win this. If we erase Leo Cantus then we win. He's the last Echo. Cacophony only has Sho's Noise left!"

Leo Cantus smirked as if he had the upper hand. But in truth... without Sho he was much weaker. This form was unstable. He'd have more speed if he had Sho, he could have added Sho's human power to the Noise. The fact that Sho had defied him left him at a disadvantage. Even so.

"Neku Sakuraba. I wanted to speak to you."

Neku didn't want to hear it. "I saw what you did talking to Beat and Rhyme. I'll pass!" Neku sent plasma bolts at him and kept his distance.

Beat joined in, "Yeah! And I'm not out of the fight yet either! Bring it Lionface! I owe you one for my sister!"

Beat came in for a strike. Leo Cantus wasn't nearly as fast as when Sho used it. But it was physically stronger. It had unnatural strength. Cacophony was putting all of his chips on the fact Leo Cantus could finish them off. And why not? Everyone was exhausted. They had been fighting Noise or used all their fusion attacks on him. They were at their most vulnerable. Weiss and Shiki were out. Rhyme couldn't fight anymore. Thanatos wasn't going to attempt attacking him again. Honestly there wasn't a single person who could muster up enough power to defeat him. So he could play it defensive and do what he did best. Use their emotions against them.

"Neku, you are indeed strong. No doubt the strongest in Shibuya. You who has stood alone for so long, how could I ever hope to sway you with words?"

Neku didn't like where he was going. So he just put more effort into taking out this Noise. Maybe if he bought a little time the other guys could get up. Eri was readying an attack from above. Maybe if Neku could distract him a little Eri could hit him and Beat could get an opening to do some damage.

Neku appeased him for just a moment, "So you say! But trying to stroke my ego isn't going to do shit!" He sent an ice spike from the ground. It didn't impale Leo Cantus. It cracked as it hit him. Wow, Neku was really weak right now wasn't he? Still. Someone had to fight.

"Indeed there is nothing I could say to you. There is no way to hurt you with cruel words. But perhaps reality is far crueler than my words. Shiki, your wife, how is she?"

Neku kept up his attacks and hoped Eri would strike soon. "She's great."

"She never told you. Did she?"

Neku tried his best to keep Leo Cantus focused on him. "Guess not."

"Shiki Sakuraba. Have you ever thought of having children? Bearing children? Well have you?"

Neku felt his focus distracted now. "What? What are you talking about?"

Leo Cantus put it simply, "Shiki never told you. Perhaps it was because she didn't know at first. Her body is imperfect, it simply could not bear a child. She's made multiple trips to the doctor to confirm her worries. If she were to have a child... it would kill her."

Neku couldn't let him distract him. "You're making this crap up!"

Eri was ready to attack. Beat was in position. Leo Cantus was distracted.

He glared at Neku, "No Sakuraba. You'll have to choose. There is a child growing within her now. Even now it shapes itself. You Sakuraba, will have to choose. You child or your wife. You can't have both. Choose. Your child or your wife. One of them will have to die. She didn't want you to know. She didn't know how to tell you. She wanted to get married in the coming weeks. But she has yet to make her decision. Her child or her life."

Neku tried not to act shaken. Although on the inside he was panicking now. No, Cacophony was making this up. He had to be making this up.

"Well Shiki? What would you choose? You always wanted a child did you not? You were always jealous of others? Always latching on to someone stronger than you? You're weak, your body is weak and your will is weak. You were never pretty enough, you were never smart enough! You were always worthless weren't you! Even as a woman you are worthless. He chose you, he wanted you and he loves you. What will you do Shiki? Should you trade your worthless life so that he might have a child? Will you leave him alone in the world? Or will you kill the child so that you may live?"

Neku's face started twisting with rage. "Shut up! You're lying! That's all you know how to do! Shiki! Tell me he's lying!" Neku was now openly panicking. "Tell me this son of a bitch is lying!"

Leo Cantus stopped moving. Eri had her opening. She shot a super needle at him. The monster seemed to be unaware. Shuto Dan quite separately shot his Tin Pin launcher while he was distracted. Beat was ready to give the smackdown. Leo Cantus turned to Eri before her attack hit. Turned his body and avoided the needle, but he grabbed the string. The moment he touched the string Eri felt her mind turn to mush. He sent so much negative energy into her mind she wasn't going be able to set off her attack. He yanked the string causing Eri to come flying towards him. He leaped and caught her by the head. Shuto's blast was incoming. But Leo Cantus used Eri as a shield to block it. He then threw Eri at Shuto.

Beat came in to attack but got kicked, punched and stomped on. He didn't have speed, but he could manipulate negative energy so well it didn't matter. His opponents were at their weakest against him. He just had to deal with Neku, the rest would be easy.

"Shiki, tell him the truth. Tell him." It said in a distorted voice that was painful to listen to.

Neku tried to think clearly, he couldn't. This bastard was getting to him. No, he already had him. Neku had to do something. If it were one of his friends he'd tell them the truth. He'd say something to comfort them. But what could he say to himself. Was it true? Was Shiki struggling with that the whole time?"

Shiki lay on the ground. The last fusion attack took out a lot of energy out of her. But she heard every word. She could feel Neku's soul. He could feel hers. He already knew now, didn't he? Cacophony was just bringing it to light. "I'm sorry." She said out loud.

Neku had to know, "Why didn't you tell me?! Shiki! Why didn't you tell me?!" He didn't sound angry, just hurt. The negative energy poured in. How could he stop it. His wife had known this? Kept it from him? He understood why, but he just couldn't stomach it. He could have done something. He could have helped her. He could have called off the wedding and found some sort of medical treatment. He could have done SOMETHING!

Cacophony told him, "Why would she tell you something so painful? You were so close to being wed. There was so much going on in Shibuya, how could she tell you? The truth would only cause you pain and she didn't want to hurt you. After all, she is your loving wife. Can you blame her for not telling you? So Neku, which would you choose. Your child or your wife?"

Neku turned around his face was trying not to cry. This was sick. This was wrong! No one should ever have to make that kind of choice! It was true wasn't it? Shiki didn't want to tell him. When did she find out? How long had she known?

"Since Rhyme went to the hospital. She had known for roughly 2 weeks. She would never have told you, she didn't want you to know. She didn't want you to know how worthless she was."

Neku tried attacking with his psyches but he was getting sloppy, "Shiki IS NOT Worthless!" Neku wasn't right in the head anymore. Neku was right of course, but Cacophony knew just how to press buttons.

Shiki started crying while she was on the ground. "I'm not good for anything. I always held you back... I always held everyone back. I was always jealous."

Cacophony continued, "You still are jealous Shiki. You're jealous of the fact that there are so many who will happily care for their child. You always thought you'd make a good mother and Neku a good father. It is cruel indeed, this wonderful world. This world you love so much betrays you. You cannot be a mother! Neku cannot be a father! You should die! If you even had one child that would prove that you're not worthless! Think of it! If you you died then Neku could be happy!"

Shiki tried to get up, she couldn't. She was too drained and the negative energy inside her was overwhelming. "Leave me alone." She moaned. "Leave him alone..." Then she shut both eyes and shouted, "Leave us alone!"

Neku did something stupid. He charged in head first and put all his power into a frontal attack. Psych after psych he was just in a frenzy now. "Don't you dare say another word to her! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Leo Cantus took some of his attacks, but he had already won. Neku attacked as much as he could. He was already exhausted, but he was pushing himself to the breaking point. Neku attacked and attacked until he couldn't attack anymore. Cacophony could have killed him. There were so many openings, but he just enjoyed Neku's suffering. "Shibuya's champion? Proxy of the Composer? The last hope of the angels? What are you Neku?"

Neku fell to his knees. His head bowed at the floor. He had enough negative energy in him to completely immobilize him. He was too tired to fight back anymore. "What am I?" He asked.

Leo Cantus extended a finger and touched him on the forehead. He was going to detonate that negative energy. Neku wouldn't survive. He answered Neku's riddle, "You are nothing."

Before he could detonate the negative energy Beat got in the way! "He's my friend! He's my best friend! I'll always have his back! Ain't shit going to happen to him when I'm around!"

Rhyme showed up next. She got between the monster and Neku. She was too weak to really fight for real. But she sent some golden rings at Leo Cantus, they bounced harmlessly off of him. "He's my friend too! I won't let a monster break him!"

Leo Cantus wasn't amused. He started punching Beat's skateboard causing Beat to skid backwards. He couldn't keep blocking. But he kept trying anyway.

Then Mr. Mew came out of nowhere. Shiki couldn't move. But she said almost in a trance, "He's my husband. I won't let anything take him away." Her eyes almost glowed as Mr. Mew punched against Leo Cantus. Cacophony shouted, "You are all nothing! Don't you get it! You're powerless, meaningless, fleeting and worthless!" He kept punching but couldn't break through despite his strength.

Kotori appeared behind Leo Cantus and revealed her angel wings, "He's my son." She unleashed the equivalent an angelic superblast that belonged on dragonball Z. Leo Cantus batted her away then tried to attack again.

Nanami got in the way this time, "He's my boss! I've never had a better boss!"

Leo Cantus kicked her out of the way.

Weiss got in the way, "He's my inspiration! He's one of the reasons why I'm standing against you!"

Leo Cantus roared and threw Weiss out of the way. He did an uppercut knocking Beat into the sky.

Two blasts hit him in the eyes. Kariya said, "He's a good kid. He saved my life from the Noise once. I should return the favor."

Uzuki added shooting her blast at Leo Cantus, "He's the most irritating player I've ever dealt with!"

Thanatos got in the way too, "He's an asshole. I hate his guts! He turned down my art and yet here I am keeping him from dying!"

Leo Cantus punched Thanatos out of the way.

Neku stood up now. He could feel power again. The negative power fading from him, "I'm Neku Sakuraba. And I'm the one who will stand in your way."

Leo Cantus let out a roar that cracked the floor. "Let us see if you stand after this!"

Leo Cantus pulled back a fist and smashed the ground where Neku stood. Leo Cantus must have obliterated him. There's no way he had the speed to avoid it or the defense to survive.

Someday

watch?v=NX4cKIuRRQo

"He's an inverse matrix." Sho Minamimoto joined the fight. He held Neku by the shirt and rather than gently putting Neku down somewhere he just threw him in off in some random direction. "And he was in my way too... I've got a score to settle... An equation to balance... a variable to erase."

Leo Cantus laughed, "What are you without your power! Without the Taboo you are nothing! I have all the strength and power! Yet you stand against me?" Leo Cantus tried to punch Sho, but failed. He simply dodged it. He attacked again, Sho easily dodged it. He even dodged it with his hands in his pockets. Sho didn't even look worried. Leo Cantus couldn't touch him.

"Why?"

Sho answered, "You're zetta slow!"

That wasn't a math joke. That was a fact. Leo Cantus when combined with Sho's speed gains power that surpasses all other Noise forms. Sure Cacophony might have boosted up Leo Cantus in terms of raw power. But his speed was much slower than if he were merged with Sho.

"It does not matter. You have no means of killing me."

Sho chuckled and actually started laughing. This only annoyed Leo Cantus. Sho pulled out a megaphone and jumped in the air, "Attention all Reaper! I'm your Conductor again! Erase the variable until nothing remains. Get back yoctograms! We Reapers will handle this."

Sho charged in and avoided some punches and kicks. Sho delivered a satisfying punch to the face then kicked off his chest. The Noise simply could not hit him. It was too slow. So instead of going after Sho it went after the annoying insects sending blasts at him. First Kariya. He jumped at him and almost grabbed him. Except Uzuki shot him with an impressive blast knocking him off balance. Kariya took the cue. He pointed both hands at him and sent a spray of orange bolts into Leo Cantus.

Leo Cantus may have lacked speed, but Cacophony was driving. He let out a roar that made everyone shake. The roar was a mix of multiple lions roaring and people shouting. The sound stunned everything. He grabbed Uzuki and squeezed her abdomen. He grabbed Kariya and proceeded to crush them both. Kotori came to their rescue. The white winged reaper used her wings to fire multiple angel feathers exploding through Leo Cantus. He didn't drop Kariya and Uzuki. He hit the floor and charged at Kotori.

He zig zagged and came in for the finisher. Sho just appeared in front of Leo Cantus and kicked him in the face. He pulled one of his hands out of his pockets revealing the Taboo mark on it. He jabbed that hand inside the Noise and said, "You may be able to detonate someone else's negative Soul power... But if my math is right... and it always is. I can detonate my own! YOU! You're using my Noise! Die! Rot in hell Radian!"

He plunged that hand into Leo Cantus and created an explosion worthy of Sho Minamimoto's ego. Sho stood there. The explosion sent Kariya, Kotori and Uzuki flying away. Sho stood there in silence. A hand reached out. Leo Cantus was still alive, but barely.

"You defiant little insect! I will crush you and I will finish what I started! I will erase you all! There is no one that stands against me other than you! You have all fallen! Speak your final words."

Sho was grabbed by the monster with both hands. He was being squeezed. Crushed to to death. His throat and body weren't going to last long. Even so Sho smirked, "Three."

Leo Cantus was puzzled, "What?!"

Sho continued, "One."

Leo Cantus realized what he was doing. "No... You cannot..."

Sho continued speaking faster and faster, "Four, one, five, nine, two."

His final words were going to be pi. Leo Cantus tried to crush him before he could say anymore.

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It went on and on. Every number faster than the one before it. He started rattling off numbers faster than you could hear them. Until finally an explosion of white went off. The lvl_i _flare. Not the half baked one either. This was the real one. This was the one he couldn't aim. This was the one that killed everyone and everything. This was the one that could even kill Sho. White went off around Sho and started eradicating everything as it spread. Leo Cantus watched helplessly as his own arm started being eaten by white. His body surrounded by the glow. He may have crushed Sho before he could finish the flare, but...

BANG!

Sho was erased. Leo Cantus was gone. The cell phones beeped. Their mission was met.

No one was awake to celebrate. Everyone who fought was out cold or wounded, but they did it. Leo Cantus was the final Echo.

XXXX

Some time later Joshua walked slowly towards the mess. "What on earth did I miss?"

He was impressed. It looks like they managed to beat Cacophony. They won.

"Looks like you weren't the only one who pulled off a miracle."

Joshua turned to see the Agent. "Ah you're still here."

The angel seemed to survey the area and was pleased with what he saw. "The damage to the city is substantial. But... I must admit I'm impressed."

Joshua smiled, "I always gamble, angel. I always put everything I have on the table to defend what is mine."

The Agent laughed, "You are insane, but I cannot deny it worked."

Joshua looked at his phone, "The mission is done?"

The Agent nodded, "One task yet remains."

Joshua was interested, "Oh? What's left? All the Echoes are defeated are they not?"

The Agent motioned to the remains of pork city, "Tomorrow you must go to the heart of Shibuya. A place no angel can follow. It is there you must purge the Noise from Shibuya."

Joshua smirked and didn't feel worried at all, "I think we can handle it."

The Agent stood up and looked at the passed out players, "The day is over. One final day remains. Then it's over. With no remaining Echoes the path to the heart of Shibuya is clear. Purge it of it's evil and you will win."

Joshua nodded, "Alright. With the Echoes out of the way it shouldn't be a difficult task."

The Agent frowned. "I need to relay a message from the Director. He says if victory is obtained it will come at a price. Are you prepared to pay it."

Joshua smirked and looked up at the sky, "I should hope so."

The Agent gave a quick bow, "Then we shall make preparations for the final day. Rest."

Joshua didn't seem to have a choice. As the day came to an end he fell over. Everyone slept. They did it. They could rest with the thought of assured victory.

Charon walked up to the Agent. "Do they know? Did you tell them who they'd be facing."

The Agent replied, "The Director did not say I had to warn them."

Charon smirked, "Even as a demon... I must say these humans continue to impress. Still... Despite the miracles they have made. It means nothing. You and I both know who guards the Heart of Shibuya."

The Agent nodded, "They will face Cacophony himself. At full power."

Charon clarified. "They're facing the Noise god."

The Agent shook his head, "How could the Director approve such a challenge?"

Charon didn't know, "It doesn't matter... Even if you were to take every soul in this city. If you were somehow able to combine all of Shibuya together to strike against Cacophony... it would not so much as wound him. His power rivals that of the Director. How can they be expected to fight Cacophony?"

The Agent didn't know, "This is a task an army of the finest angels could not do. Yet. A dozen humans must face him alone."

Charon was interested, "What if they were to succeed."

The Agent almost seemed sad, "We both know they can't. Cacophony is the avatar of all Noise. They can only hope for a quick death."

Charon commented, "The Demons have taken an interest in these humans. If humans were able to defeat this many Noise. Perhaps we misjudged their power. They could be used as tools of war. They could turn the tide of the battle against angels and demons."

The Agent gave Charon an order, "Do not speak such heresy again. Make the preparations. The final day begins. All will be decided. The fate of the angels, demons and humans... Why Director? Why ask them to face Cacophony?"

It wasn't often the Agent questioned the Director. But this was one of those times. It was hopeless. But... if they pulled it off. If they somehow got through this. Then that could mean the end of not just this game, but all games. They would effectively save the entire world from eventual destruction.

For now he had to wait. He had to watch them sleep. "Be strong humans. This is the end."

XXX

The Final Week

End Day 6

XXX

[One day remains. Please comment and tell me what you think. If you see anything you liked or didn't like let me know. A big thank you to all my beta readers. Particularly maxaxil. Every time I get a comment I feel more inclined to finish this thing. It's a lot of work. Making a chapter this big takes me weeks of work. As always I will take as much time as I need to make a new chapter. I will be editing some previous chapters to ensure their quality is improved. If you see anything on any chapter, new or old tell me. I'll be fixing them up. Thank you for reading. Now bug me to finish. The more you bug me the more work I do... generally.

For the current Beta visit the forum

topic/75721/103690579/1/The-Final-Day


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